THE Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) has withdrawn tenders for joint venture partnerships it sought to resuscitate its defunct mines as some of the creditors were attaching assets of the said mines.
In July last year, ZMDC announced that it had shortlisted Canadian and South African investors for joint venture partnerships to resuscitate its gold and graphite mines dotted across the country.
Responding to questions in Parliament last Wednesday, Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister Engineer Polite Kambamura said: “ZMDC mines were at one point put on tender but the tender was withdrawn due to other activities which are happening. There were creditors who were going on the ground to attach properties of the said mines.”
Some of the mines that ZMDC sought to revive include Sandawana, Elvington and Lynx.
Eng Kambamura said consequently there is an inter-ministerial team which was set up so that it could come up with modalities on how best to conduct the tenders to revive the mines.
“I think by end of July, the inter-ministerial team would have come up with a way forward which will enable the mines to be operational,” he said.
The joint venture partnerships are expected to go a long way in ensuring ZMDC fully exploits its potential and contribute to the growth of the economy by tapping into various resources found across its concessions. For example, if recapitalised, the parastatal would be able to tap into minerals such as gold, emeralds, tantalite, iron ore, and lithium deposits at Sandawana Mine in Mberengwa. ZMDC re-opened Sabi Gold Mine in Zvishavane following a joint venture partnership with a local investor, Chandiwana Mines IN 2017. _The Chronicle
