Parly Mines Committee 2nd day gold enquiry – Fidelity Gold Refinery
Yesterday the Edmond Mkaratigwa led Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development was on its second day of the enquiry into the gold mining sector for the year 2022.
Rudairo Mapuranga
The Parly Mines Committee has been working tirelessly pushing for progress for the mining sector achieve its projection by 2023 of becoming a US$12 billion industry.
The Committee had an enquiry with Fidelity Gold Refiners (FGR) represented by its acting General Manager Mr Peter Magaramombe. The enquiry with FGR was held at Great Zimbabwe Hotel in Masvingo near the Great Zimbabwe ruins.
Through his presentation Magaramombe indicated that FGR was optimistic that the gold sector in 2022 was going to achieve the projected target of 36-40 tonnes deliveries to the country’s sole gold buyer and exporter.
He also said that the government’s vision to see the gold sector achieving an annual production of 100 tonnes by 2023 was also achievable however it needed miners and other stakeholders in the mining value chain to play their part well.
He indicated that gold deliveries during the first quarter of 2022 was very encouraging as compared to the previous quarter of 2021 due to increased incentives on the part of gold buyers.
Hon Jasmine Toffa then asked why incentives where not consistent when FGR and the government were really aware that the incentives were very critical for the achievement of the US$4 billion gold target. Magaramombe said that the issue of incentives was a policy and he was not the right person to pose the question to as the responsible authorities were the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).
Magaramombe was asked on whether FGR was considering value addition of gold so that the country benefit significantly from its gold of which he answered that the responsibilities of FGR were solely to buy and export but their sister company Orex was responsible for value addition.
He also said that FGR had plans to join the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) but on short term it was going to seek accreditation with Dubai Good Delivery (DGD).
Hon Mkaratigwa pointed to Magaramombe that committee members were of the view that there is gross gold leakages from seaming loyal gold producers giving an example of a Chinhoyi Mine which has one of the biggest head gears in the country but was only producing 18 kgs a month with some small scale miners nearly producing such.
Fire brand Chiredzi North member of Parliament Hon Roy Bhila asked why FGR was not present at gold producing mine sites. Magaramombe responded to the question saying it was not the official duty of FGR to camp at gold producing sites because there is no legislation which requires them to do so. Magaramombe said there were a lot of legislative gaps limiting the entity to wholly mop all the gold produced in the country.
Miners also recommended FGR to take seriously funding or sourcing loans for the ASM since they have proved to be consistent gold producers over the years. Magaramombe said FGR was looking forward funding many operations by small scale miners to create a loyal relationship.
He also encouraged miners to send through their grievances to FGR.
“I want to encourage miners to put through their grievances to FGR so that all gold is sold through the formal channel. All grievances will be discussed and possible solutions sought,” he said.
Mkaratigwa also suggested that Fidelity was supposed to have a good working relationship with miners, as this will help FGR understand the grievances of miners and what needs to be done to make the miners happy.
In attendance were representatives from the Zimbabwe Miners Federation, EMA, ZELA and many other organisations.