JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Zimbabwe may withdraw mining rights from companies that are taking too long to dig for minerals, the deputy mines minister said on Wednesday, part of efforts to lift output in a sector vital to the country’s economic revival.
Zimbabwe sits on the second largest known platinum deposits after neighbouring South Africa and President Emmerson Mnangagwa is keen to revive mining after years of reticence by foreign investors during the Robert Mugabe administration.
Speaking to investors and mining executives at a mining conference in Johannesburg, Polite Kambamura said details of the so-called ‘use it or lose it’ approach to mining policy would be made available in due course.
Speaking at the same conference, the president of industry body group Chamber of Mines, Betirai Manhando, said the industry was in talks with the government about reviewing and streamlining mining taxes to make them competitive.
“The ministry is looking at the whole array of taxes like royalties etc to streamline them and establish a more competitive regime. We’re looking forward to the outcome from the ministry of mines,” he said.
