The country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is confident that its projected target of gold deliveries to Fidelity Gold Refinery (FGR) reaching its projected target of 35 tonnes is within reach.
Rudairo Mapuranga
Gold deliveries during the first half of the year according to the RBZ governor Dr John Mangudya were 60.45 per cent higher to 15,972.52 kgs, compared to 9,954.67 kgs delivered during the same period in 2021.
“Gold deliveries to Fidelity Gold Refinery (Private) Limited (FGR) for the period 1 January 2022 to 30 June 2022 were 15,972.52 kgs, compared to 9,954.67 kgs delivered during the same period in 2021. This represents a year-to-year variance (increase) of 60.45% or 6,017.85 kgs.
“Total deliveries during the first half of 2022 were 60.45% or 9.954.67 kgs more than what was achieved over the same period in 2021. At this rate, the Bank’s projection of delivery 35 000 tonnes is within reach. To ensure that the set target is achieved, there is a need to maintain the incentives and complement them with increased monitoring of gold producers to reduce leakages into the parallel market,” Mangudya said.
FGR statistics from January to July 2022, gold deliveries increased by 47.4 per cent to 18940.6322 kgs from 12852.5457 kgs. With the artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM) nearly doubling their deliveries to 11 444.0958 kgs from 6824.7478 kgs in 2021, while Large scale gold producers increased to 7496.5364kgs from 6027.7979 kgs in 2021. The statistics show that the gold industry is well on path towards the achievement of the US$4 billion gold industry by the end of 2023.
The statistics also show that gold delivery to Fidelity in July increased by 4.9 per cent increase to 2963.9129 kgs from 2824.6174 kgs delivered in 2021 with the ASM deliveries increasing by 2.5 per cent increase to 1998.1277 kgs from 1950.3063 kgs during the comparable month of 2021 while large scale gold producers deliveries also increased by 10.5 per cent to 965.7852 kgs from 874.3111 kgs in 2021.