-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: ‘Courier New'”>We can mine our diamonds – Midzi

HARARE – Mines and Mining Development minister Amos Midzi has denied reports by Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono that Zimbabwe does not have the capacity to mine diamonds.

Gono had deplored government’s approach to diamond mining and accused the Zimbabwe Mining Development Company (ZMDC) of lacking capacity for “gainful extraction programmes in the diamond sector”, necessitating the need for a foreign technical partner.

Midzi claimed ZMDC had extracted 30,000 carats of diamonds over the past three months.

“There have been certain assumptions that ZMDC is unable to carry out mining in Marange, but evidence shows that it has the capacity,” Midzi told The Zimbabwean. “Obviously like any other company there are some constraints, especially foreign currency to purchase modern equipment like the one used in separating the diamonds from the rubble.

“Since April this year when ZMDC moved to Marange it has moved over 1,000 tonnes of ore, producing about 30,000 carats of diamonds.”

Midzi declined to reveal how much had been earned from the extracted diamonds, claiming the calculations were complicated.

Profit in a tea cup

TANGANDA Tea Company posted a net profit of $60bn for the half-year ended April 30. Profit before tax surged by 1 117% to $73bn compared to $6,1bn achieved in the 2006 corresponding period.

This was a 1 500% increase over the previous year’s figure of $4bn in inflation-adjusted terms. The group registered a turnover of $113bn, 170% up.

Tanganda said export volumes went up by 252% to reach a record $81bn against $23bn recorded last year while local sales increased to $32bn from $18bn registered in the prior year. Tanganda did not declare an interim dividend.

Sun expands north

ZIMBABWE Sun Limited achieved $36,2bn profit before tax for the six months ended 31 March.

“The Group achieved a net profit of $3,6bn in comparison to $165,8m in the corresponding prior year period, a performance that was mainly driven by a healthy contribution from hotels in the Victoria Falls area,” said the company this week.

The group said The Grace in Rosebank, Johannesburg, had achieved a noteworthy performance over the period with the hotels’ occupancies averaging 73%, the highest level since 1997.

ZimSun benefited highly from foreign tourist arrivals in the country, which grew by 7,28%.

“A notable achievement by the group has been the entering into a tourism development agreement with the government of Equatorial Guinea that will involve the operation of hotel facilities and consultation on the development of a sustainable tourism infrastructure in that country’s economy,” the chairman added.

Policies blamed

ZIMBABWEAN companies are operating at a third of their capacity as skewed policies, foreign currency shortages and erratic fuel supplies continued to hamper imports of spares and raw materials, a survey released by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) revealed this week.

“The average capacity utilisation for sampled firms was 33,8% (down from 35,8% in the previous survey in 2005),” said CZI.

“We have de-industrialised ourselves. There is a crisis. We no longer have an industry to talk about,” CZI president Callisto Jokonya told guests at the launch of the report.

The report said 49% of the sampled firms operated below 50% capacity with only 9,7% operating at above 74%.

The industry body said the decline was exacerbated by chronic shortages of fuel and frequent power cuts.

CZI added that business confidence had dipped to five percent, as investors grew increasingly pessimistic about the state of an economy ravaged by inflation now believed to be 4,530%.

Platinum investment

LEADING platinum producer Impala Platinum plans to spend over R25bn during the next five years to increase production.

At a results presentation in February, Implats chief executive David Brown had said the group planned to spend R13bn by 2011.

The investment would see Implats production rising to 2,5m ounces by 2012, and 2,8m ounces “later in the decade”, investor relations executive Bob Gilmore told the South African media on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe Platinum Mining Company (Zimplats) is one of the beneficiaries of this expansion drive.

Implats’ Leeukop project, which it acquired with its African Platinum deal, would receive R3bn. The mining giant would also spend a similar amount to develop the Merensky reef at its Marula project.

During the 2006 financial year, Implats produced 1,85m ounces. Implats’ Anglo Platinum produced 2,82m ounces of platinum in the same year. Gilmore said Implats would boost its refinery capacity, usually the last step in the platinum production chain, to 2,8m ounces. 

Call charges hiked

BARELY a week after Econet announced that it had increased its tariffs by 500%, NetOne has hiked tariffs by more than 1,000%.

In the latest round of increases, NetOne’s Easycall customers will fork out $7 200 per minute calling fellow Easycall subscribers.

Calls by Easycall subscribers to Econet and Telecel now cost $7 300 and $7 500 respectively.

One-Select tariffs shoot up from $465 to $5 800 for intra-network calls, while cross network call rates will range between $5 900 and $6 100.

International calls to fixed receivers in Group 1 will range from $11 020 to $11 600 for the different NetOne packages.

International calls to mobile phones now incur a cost of $11 900 during peak periods and $11 400 for leisure.

Group 3 international calls directed to fixed and mobile receivers range from $12 900 to $15 700 respectively.

The short message service, which is now popular as a cost-cutting measure for the majority of subscribers, jumps from $203 to $1 723 (intra NetOne), cross network sms is now $2 655 and international messaging is pegged at $5 100.

Prospective subscribers will have to part with $300 000 for the prepaid Sim pack which comes with $150 000 airtime.

In a statement seen by The Zimbabwean, the mobile service provider said the equipment had since arrived and will be installed as soon as possible.