2012 Zimbabwe Mining Indaba to have a Sadc focus

ZIMBABWE's annual premier mining conference is this year expected to have a regional focus and lure regional experts in the mining industry.

Key mining stakeholders from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) bloc are also expected.

Event organizers, Utho Capital Investments' Minerals and Energy Managing Director Mr. Andrew Mari said the 2012 edition of the Mining Indaba was going to address economic growth problems by exposing vast areas of potential investment to local and foreign potential investors in the mining industry.

He said Zimbabwe was going to be one of the key drivers of the regional economies since the country has virgin mineral wealth waiting for exploration.

Mr. Mari said despite severe economic crisis, the thrust at the epicentre of the inclusive Government should be consistent with the gross domestic product, was to reinstate economic stability and growth and lay the basis of a more transformative mid-term to long-term economic programme.

The programme would turn the country's economic fortunes positively.

"Zimbabwe is set to be one of the key drivers of the regional economy going forward, as Zimbabwe has an abundance of untapped mineral wealth lying idle," he said on the company website.

"Despite the severe economic crisis in Zimbabwe caused by several problems, the plunge of the inclusive Government, consistent with the gross domestic product, must be to restore economic stability and growth and lay the basis of a more transformative midterm and long-term economic programme that would turn Zimbabwe into 
a progressive Development State."

The Indaba, slated for September 12 to 14, Mr. Mari said, will present a significant and relevant opportunity for diverse organisations and individuals as it offers the prospect to identify mining opportunities and keep up to date with developments in the mining sector in Zimbabwe.

The event has attracted top decision makers from across the continent and internationally from sectors such as exploration and mining companies, fund managers and private equity funds from Africa and around the globe.

There are also stockbrokers, financial institutions and project and engineering consultants.

Previous Indabas have been attended by experts in the mining industry and some of them had this to say:

"The quality of participants exceeded my expectations and I was impressed with the broad range of speakers and delegates.

"Geographically, you had people from the USA, Canada, Africa, Asia and a strong contingent from Australia," said Andrew Scott the managing director for Scott Drilling.

"The Zimbabwe Mining Indaba was a very informative and a great networking opportunity and we met a lot of key decision makers at the event and we were very happy about that," said Dr Avinash Bisnath, Technical Director for KaiBatla Mineral Industry Consultants.

"If you want to meet key decision makers and learn more about the Zimbabwe Mining Industry, don't miss the Zimbabwe Mining Indaba," said Willard Mbalaka the exploration Manager for Sephaku Holdings.

Fiscal authorities at the last Indaba said the short term economic recovery programme (STERP) was introduced to raise the capacity in minerals production through supportive measures such as the liberalization of marketing of minerals including the levying of international commodity prices.

This was aimed to remove the gap between domestic and international prices and afford mining houses the full value of minerals.

Furthermore, they said the mineral production was raised through the removal of all surrender requirements on all minerals including gold.

The country also made efforts to put in place supportive measures for mining through amendments to the Mines and Minerals Act to facilitate the reviewing of mining rights and remove speculative tendencies as well as ensuring full exploration of mineral resources.

The Zimbabwe Mining Conference is now a permanent fixture and international event for Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe Mining Indaba 2012 will focus on Mining, Infrastructure and Finance, which are so integral to the success of any economy that is driven by the mining sector.

Furthermore, the conference this year will have a Regional focus, with prominent speakers and stakeholders from SADC and the rest of Africa.

The Indaba is going to run under the theme, ‘Improving Mining through continuous Dialogue, Infrastructure and Financing.'

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