Govt to liberalise gold sector

The Financial Gazette reports that Zimbabwe is seriously contemplating to liberalise its gold sector, as part of measures to stem black market leakages and attract capital into the key mining industry subsector.

This comes as the National Development Strategy says Harare is to strengthen its metallurgical and monitoring mechanisms to contain smuggling.

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said that government was looking at offering gold producers a fair price and pay them on time as it was critical that all bullion is accounted for and that the country should maximise on gold as a hard currency mineral.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe will in February adopt the free-on-board (FOB) and cost, insurance and freight (CIF) arrangements in selling minerals and metals , dumping the ex-works system as it moves to make miners realise more from minerals and metals.

Under the current ex-works marketing basis, miners sell their minerals and metals to buyers at the mine.

But, under the new arrangement, miners will now, through Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ), ship their minerals and metals to the ports.

The new critical arrangement would also mean that the government gets more revenue from the sale of metals and minerals away from the mines, MMCZ general manager Tongai Muzenda said.