Our fair share?
The risk of under-declaration of the quality and quantities of mineral exports shrinks with more minerals processed and refined locally, even better consumed. There is a longstanding public perception that the government is not getting a fair share from mining companies. One of the reasons cited is that mining companies declare only one mineral and hide other related minerals that are recovered. These allegations have been targeted at platinum miners. Platinum is generally used to refer to the platinum group of metals (PGMs) – platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium,iridium, and osmium.
Gold and silver are some of the precious metals along with base minerals like nickel, copper, and cobalt that are recovered from the processing of platinum. To some extent, allegations against platinum mines are sterile.
Zimplats, through its annual reports, publicly accessible online, declares revenue earned from the mineral varieties it extracts. It is a pity that the fiscal instruments continue to refer to platinum royalties while related metals like palladium and rhodium rake in more revenue for the miners than platinum. Zimplats’ annual reports indicate that Palladium in 2019, for the first time, contributed 35.6% more revenue than platinum and nearly doubled in 2022 at 81.6% more.
Revenue from rhodium in 2022 was 25.4% more than platinum contribution. Considering that the MMAB makes it clear that royalties must be paid from all minerals recovered from the ore, the Finance Act must be fine-tuned in appreciation of a variety of metals recoverable from PGMs. More so, considering the changes in value, palladium, and rhodium are now more valuable than platinum.
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