Zimbabwe mulls 26% shareholding in new mining projects
Zimbabwe’s Secretary for Mines, Pfungwa Kunaka, has highlighted the government’s ambition to secure a 26% shareholding in major mining projects in Zimbabwe. Speaking to Bloomberg, Kunaka emphasized the need for careful negotiations with existing investors to achieve this goal.
“We need to move to a level where we reach 26% shareholding in most of the big projects,” Kunaka stated. He acknowledged that such changes require dialogue, particularly where agreements were established under different frameworks.
“A lot of these things would take negotiations with the investors that are on the ground,” he explained. “Obviously, when you have decisions which were made some years back and decisions were made on the basis of a certain framework, you cannot just willy-nilly go and change that. It takes negotiations.”
Kunaka did not disclose the minimum value of mining assets in which the government would want a shareholding, saying that details will be released later. He said the policy may be introduced next year.
Zimbabwe abolished its 51% ‘Indigenous Zimbabwean’ ownership of all foreign companies (with an asset value of above US$500,000) which included mines.