BETTER Brands Jewellery (BBJ) proprietor, Pedzisayi Scott Sakupwanya, says his company will strive to deliver a record six tonnes gold haul to the government between now and the end of the year.
Sakupwanya, who is also chaiperson of the National Gold Buyers Association (NGBA), said deliveries that had been made to Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR) thus far, served to underline their efforts in achieving a new milestone.
This comes as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has reported an increase in gold deliveries to the FPR — with the “remarkable deliveries” recorded in June and July.
Speaking to the Daily News yesterday, Sakupwanya said BBJ’s aim was to continue complementing the government’s efforts in curtailing gold leakages by mopping the mineral from artisanal miners and delivering it to FPR.
BBJ is the biggest buyer of gold in the country and is contracted to the government.
“We are confident that we can double the figures of what we will be delivering to the FPR in the last half of the year.
“Despite the difficulties brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, we have — from our own mining activities and gold buying, delivered about 1 850 tonnes so far.
“We are targeting, between now and the end of year, to deliver six tonnes to FPR. We intend to deliver between 400-500kg per week between now and the end of December,” Sakupwanya told the Daily News.
“To further help us achieve delivering more gold, we have plans to open gold buying centres in every province.
“This will boost our campaign to complement the government in stopping gold leakages.
“Our thrust is to ensure the country’s interests are protected in the trading of gold and our mandate is to… raise deliveries through solid, and recognisable structures in order to help with the monitoring, and coordination of licensed players’ activities,” Sakupwanya said.
“As a company, we remain honoured and challenged by President (Emmerson) Mnangagwa’s empowerment programmes, and mining sector targets, hence our singular efforts to contribute towards that 2023 vision.
“The president has shown trust in the youth and we hope to create further opportunities for them from our activities and empower them ,” Sakupwanya added.
This comes as Mnangagwa on Monday said the performance of the mining sector was on track and the industry was expected to grow by 11 percent this year buoyed by favourable international prices and expansion programmes aimed at increasing production.
Zimbabwe aims to have a US$12 billion mining sector by 2023.
At the same time, the governor of the RBZ John Mangudya said the government was expecting an increase in gold exports this year, amid surging gold deliveries to the FPR.
“There was a remarkable surge in gold deliveries to Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR) in the months of June and July 2021.
“June 2021 gold deliveries to FPR were 2 924.3 kg compared to 1 409.6 kg delivered in June 2020. Similarly, gold deliveries for July 2021 stood at 2 824.6 kg compared to July 2020 deliveries of 1 406.4kg,” Mangudya said in his mid-term Monetary Policy Statement.
Mangudya said small-scale gold producers contributed 52,8 present of the total gold deliveries to FPR during the first seven months of 2021 — saying this compared favourably with the 55,8 percent delivered for the same period in 2020.