$1bn needed to revive gold sector

Zimbabwe’s gold mining sector needs $1 billion over the next five years to get the industry back on track, a consultant for TSX- and Aim-listed Caledonia, which operates a gold mine in the country, said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a gold conference in Johannesburg, Trevor Pearson said Zimbabwe had seen almost a complete hiatus in spending on its mines over a ten-year period up to 2009/10, resulting in most operations falling into a dilapidated state.

In 1999, the country’s yearly gold production peaked at 28 000kg, but almost immediately started a rapid decline in line with political upheavals that beset the country, bottoming at 3 100kg in 2008 when the economy collapsed and the central bank stopped paying mines for deliveries.

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