AUTHORITIES have dispatched a gold mobilisation national taskforce to Zimbabwe’s eight mining provinces in a bid to shore up deliveries to Fidelity Printers and Refineries (FPR).
The national taskforce is a collaborative effort that involves the country’s security apparatus and the Mines ministry and its primary mandate is to make sure that all gold produced in the country is delivered to FPR.
Speaking at the second gold mobilisation send-off workshop held in Harare yesterday, Mines and Mining Development minister Winston Chitando said global demand for gold was on the increase.
He said the world was turning to the yellow metal as an asset for protection from economic and geo-political issues, adding that there had been an increase in the price of gold from about US$1 900 in September 2023 to the current US$2 500.
“So we want to ensure that all the gold we produce finds itself through the rightful channels [and] that’s really the basis of this exercise,” Chitando said.
He said artisanal miners were playing a crucial role as they helped Zimbabwe to achieve the national gold target, according gold production statistics.
Chitando, however, expressed concern over the need for responsible mining practices to ensure safety and sustainability.
“At the moment, in terms of the target which we had at the end of August, we are around 70% above target, so we are well on course to achieve the target, but we want to do more not just to achieve the target, but to exceed the target by a bigger percentage,” he said.
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One of the main hindrances to meeting the target, according to Chitando, was that a number of mining entities were not mining responsibly in terms of adhering to the laws of the country.
“I cannot say there has been any improvement, but we expect all mining operations to abide by the laws of the country,” he said.
“For the year 2023, gold deliveries to Fidelity stood at 30,1 tonnes, whereas the 2024 gold deliveries target to Fidelity is 35 tonnes.”
He revealed that the key to meeting the target was plugging of leakages to side markets, which are hindering the attainment of the intended targets.
“For the year 2024, from January to August, the gold deliveries to Fidelity stood at 20,7 tonnes against an annual target of 35 tonnes, in comparison with the year 2023. For the same period, the gold deliveries were 19,3 tonnes, which means that we have experienced a 7,2 tonne increase for this year,” Chitando said.
He said large-scale miners delivered 8,5 tonnes of gold to Fidelity up from 7,7 tonnes last year, representing a 10,4% increase, while small-scale players’ output rose from 11,7 tonnes in 2023 to 12,1 tonnes this year, representing a 3,4% increase.
