The small-scale miners are selling chrome locally at between US$80 to US$90 a tonne, which is lower than the London Mineral Index price of US$200 a tonne.
“In terms of mining we are doing well but, we are not impressed by the prices
which we are being offered by local smelting companies and Chinese companies
operating in the country, said the managing director of Benmas Investments, Peter Kanyeza. We are therefore looking for investors to assist us through direct cash
injection or unveiling machinery in the form of excavators, front-end loaders, compressors and bulldozers so that we can be able to increase on tonnage thus enabling us to export for much bigger returns,
Benmas Investments owns 13 claims in the chrome abundant area of Shurugwi
and extracts over 200 tonnes of the mineral a month.
Small-scale chrome miners were early this year given an 18-month reprieve to
conduct operations on their own without interference from the Ministry.
This was after Government had convinced the largest ferrochrome companies,
Zimasco and ZimAlloys, to permit the mining of chrome ore to be done by
small-scale workers, several years ago.
But in 2008 the ferrochrome price fell and power cuts meant that ferrochrome
smelters could no longer operate at a profit so they suspended production.
That left the small-scale miners with no buyers so they sought permission to
export the unprocessed ore. This was considered unacceptable at first as the
country had made so much money by adding value.
“The government has over the years promised to mechanise us by way of ensuring
us that we process the chrome ore and export it as a finish product but
nothing has taken shape to date thus we are calling on it to reconsider this
move as this won’t only benefit us, but the country as a whole, said Kanyeza.
Post published in: Economy