Gold miners surpassed the yearly target of 30 tonnes in the 10 months leading to October this year according to a mining magazine.
Small-scale miners produced 20.4 tonnes of the total production whilst the primary producers contributed 9.82 tonnes.
Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation (ZMF) spokesperson, Dosman Mangisi, “As small-scale miners, we have already surpassed our target by 21 tonnes. As the year-ends, you can see that definitely, it will be more positive despite some challenges.”
The 30-tonne output has been the highest recorded productions since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 and this has been followed by the 1999 record of 27.1 tonnes in gold.
Although the target was surpassed miners are saying that they need to be paid in foreign currency.
“There is no secret about it. Even in all those minerals that we are mining, miners should have access to their money because mining is a capital-intensive sector. If they are not paid in forex, they will shut down because if you look in Zimbabwe majority of things that we have especially equipment are being imported,” Mangisi said.
“We don’t manufacture these things here in Zimbabwe. And even our companies don’t manufacture compressors. Some are just assembling. Mining consumables are not manufactured in the country. So why should they be denied their forex?”
Primary producers who produced far less than the small-scale miners have been battling to stay in the business with other mines threatening to close down due to foreign currency challenges.
Gold is among the six top minerals that contributed the bulk of the export earnings. Other minerals include platinum, diamonds, chrome, coal, and nickel.
The mining industry has earned US$2.2 billion dollars in the first 10 months of the year.
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