Use it or lose it

The bill will also ensure minerals are properly valued. Mutambara was responding to a question from Buhera North MP Wiliam Mutomba why only five percent of registered claims were being worked on when the Department of Mines had reported that 60percent of Zimbabwean land is full of minerals and more than 80 percent of this 60 percent has

registered claims. Mutomba said some of the people sitting on the claims were handed the treasure troves as way back as the 1950s.

“What is the aim of the government regarding these people whose claims have been reserved for speculative purposes? Is there a time frame for these people because we are informed that there shall come a policy called ‘lose it or use it’. When is this going to happen?” Mutomba asked during question time.

Mutambara said the Cabinet committee on legislation was almost done with the Mines and Minerals Bill and the Diamond Bill . He said Cabinet was also “refining our work on indigenisation and empowerment.” “Without pre-empting the work of

Cabinet and this House, I can just speak to some of the ideas in forming the policy,” Mutambara said.

“We are saying to address some of the items raised by the hon. member, those claims that people have, we must apply a ‘use it or lose it’ principle where we are going to actively seek to harmonise within the country in terms of those individuals and companies that are holding claims and are not using those claims by invoking the ‘use it or lose it’ principle.”

Mutambara said the executive was also valuing the diamond, coal, platinum and gold which is still underground before putting it up for sale. “What is the value of the platinum that is in the Great Dyke, the diamond in Marange, the coal in Hwange that is not mined, meaning the asset underground must be understood as an asset with value, which means before you get that claim, the State of Zimbabwe will say we the people of Zimbabwe are bringing this asset to the table and this asset is worth half a billion.

You as an investor, what are you bringing to the table?” Mutambara said. “You are not going to get the claim for

free as what used to happen in the past. As an investor from Europe, South Africa and Zimbabwe, we are going to say to you, here is the opportunity in platinum but the people of Zimbabwe are bringing this asset and this as set underground is worth half a billion dollars, what do you bring to the table so that we have an understanding of equity?

“That is new because most of these miners and companies mining in Zimbabwe got the asset for free and they boycott working capital and they pay us through tax and royalties, that is a traverse of justice.”

The Minister of Finance told Parliament in his 2011 budget proposals that last year, only extracted US$4 million from mining was handed to Treasury after mining had recorded US$600 million worth of business.

“We are not going to allow that to happen any more,” Mutambara said. “We want to make sure the people of Zimbabwe are benefiting from the asset. Those are some of ideas that we are working on, the difference between equity and working capital, what is working capital and equity?”