Zim shuns London gold market

Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa says Zimbabwe will not sell its gold on the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) despite having met the 10 tonne production requirement, but would consider other markets.

Zimbabwe was ejected from the LBMA in 2008 after gold output plunged to three tonnes. Since then, Zimbabwe has been exporting its gold through South Africa’s Rand Refinery.

Fidelity Printers and Refiners, the country’s sole buyer of gold and a unit of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, was re-opened in 2013 following years of redundancy resulting from undercapitalisation and the liberalisation of gold exports in 2009.

Gold production in the country has been on a growth trajectory since authorities decriminalised artisanal mining in 2014, achieving 15 tonnes that year.

Last year, the country produced 20 tonnes of gold.

“There is no problem with marketing gold.  We can sell our gold through the London bullion market but there are many markets from all over the world coming to us demanding to purchase our gold,” Chinamasa said during a tour of a recent alluvial gold find in Gache Gache, Kariba, last week.

“We already have qualified for the London market but we will not be selling there yet for reasons that I’ll keep to myself right now.”

Industry officials say the country is on course to meet its 24 tonne target after statistics from the Chamber of Mines showed a 21 percent increase in production to five tonnes in the first quarter.-The Source

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