Zimbabwe’s mining sector is registering unprecedented growth, for the first time in history.
Earnings jumped to US$5,2 billion in 2021 from about US$2,9 billion in 2017, as positive gains continue to be realised from the Government’s economic reform agenda, President Mnangagwa has said.
Officially opening the 25th edition of the Mining, Engineering and Transport (Mine Entra) Conference in Bulawayo last week at the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre, President Mnangagwa rallied industry players to ramp up production and embrace modern technologies to scale up capacity and business competencies in line with global best practice.
Official statistics already indicate that the mining sector is poised to clock US$8 billion in earnings this year, having already surpassed US$6 billion last month.
With such growth being achieved within a few years in the mining sector alone, the President said the stage was now set for the extractive sector to drive the modernisation of the country’s economy through backward and forward linkages that stimulate localised production of the supply chain.
The Government has set an ambitious target for the mining sector to realise a US$12 billion milestone by 2023 and this, despite unforeseen shocks, remains certain, judging by the continued momentum across key sub-sectors, and the newly commissioned signature projects covering different mineral segments.
These include the expansion of Zimplats and Unki Mines, the re-opening of Eureka Gold Mine, Shamva Gold Mine, Rio-Zim Cam and Motor Biox Gold Plant Expansion Project, Radnor Mine, and most recently, the Sinomine Bikita Minerals Lithium project, among others.
Source: af24news