“They will acquire water pumps, crushers and generators, among other things, under a loan facility from the various mining companies from China. We will first assess the capability of the miners to fulfill the terms of the purchase before recommending them for the scheme,” he said, but would not disclose the names of the Chinese companies involved.
“We are very grateful to the ZSSMDA for striking this deal. We have been facing lack of capital from banks because we do not have collateral. However, it remains to be seen whether the equipment will be durable. There are some reservations about Chinese products. Some say they are of poor quality and not durable, but we are going to try them,” said a small scale miner, Gift Mazodze.
The miners have expressed grave concerns over the prohibitive taxes charged by Zimbabwe Revenue Authority for importing mining equipment.