Zimbabwe has no intention of cancelling mining licences

Zimbabwe had no intention of canceling the mining licences of foreign companies, the mine minister said on Wednesday.

Mines Minister Obert Mpofu told a mining conference in Harare that the government did not intend to cancel any licences.

The minister said Zimbabwe will continue talks with some miners over a law requiring them to give Zimbabweans a 51 percent stake in their local holdings.

"We have no intention of cancelling any licences. There are some negotiations taking place with some parties. No licence has been cancelled. We have no such intention," he said.

The Zimbabwean government and Zimplats said on Tuesday they had agreed to produce a revised plan for a law requiring mining firms to turn over a 51 percent stake to local blacks.

Zimbabwe rejected Zimplat's initial share transfer plan as a result, Zimbabwe's vocal indigenisation minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, had asked the mines ministry to cancel Zimplats' operating licence owing to its failure to comply with the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act.

The decision to cancel Zimplats' operating licence had been reached after several attempts by the government of Zimbabwe to engage the platinum mining giant under the indigenisation programme failed to yield positive results.

Addressing a news conference in Harare last, The Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment, Saviour Kasukuwere said the platinum mining firm has expressed arrogance towards the country's laws leaving the government with no option but to enforce the laws of the country.