The government revealed this shocking information through the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, under Minister Obert Mpofu. The government said it had allowed 18 months for all exporters to get their houses in order before today’s ban.
“All chrome ore exporters were informed and so the decision should not worry anyone,” a senior government official said.
The President of the Zimbabwe Mining Federation, Wellington Takavarashe, confirmed the latest development.
He said he had already told his members who were, however, very unhappy about the latest move. Takavarashe said the members were “worried’ that many workers would lose their jobs causing the country’s unemployment figure to soar.
Zimbabwe’s unemploymet rate currently stands at between 80 percent and 90 percent but analysts point out tht most citizens are now engaged in the informal sector and thus the statistics could be “misleading”.
Last year the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) exported 600 000 tonnes of chrome ore. The country has nine chrome ore smelting facilities in Gweru, Kadoma and Masvingo which can smelt more than 1,5 million tonnes of ore per annum.
The chrome ore deposits can be found mainly in Shurugwi, Mutorashanga, Lalapansi, and Guinea Fowl. It could not be readily established exactly why chrome ore exports have been banned but insiders said this was so that the product was “beneficiated before exporting” because this added value and would earn the country more in foreign currency. Mining is among the top three foreign currency earners in Zimbabwe
Post published in: News