GOLD sales to Zimbabwe’s sole buyer and exporter, Fidelity Printers and Refiners, slowed down by 5 percent to 2.734 kg in May this year, compared to 2.876 kg in the comparable period last year, according to data just released.
The gold deliveries for May are, however, up from 2.387 kg in April this year. Of the total deliveries, smaller producers, who deliver the most gold, sold 1.678 kg in May, lower than 1.806 kg last May, but 38 percent more than 1.218kg in April.
Large-scale miners delivered 1.056 kg, lower than 1.070 kg in May last year and 9.6 percent down from 1.168 kg in April this year. Since 2020, small-scale miners have been contributing more than 60 percent of gold to Fidelity, surpassing that of large-scale producers.
In May, Mines and Mining Development Minister Winstone Chitando called for investigations into the decline of deliveries from small-scale miners, whose deliveries were at that time ranging between 42 percent and 53 percent compared to previous years.
“Mineral leakages deprive the government of much-needed revenue from taxes and royalties,” said Chitando. Zimbabwe is expecting to produce 40 tons of gold this year, up from 30 tons in 2023.
The country recently introduced a new currency called the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG), which is backed by gold and other precious minerals, as well as a basket of foreign currencies. —New Ziana