Maravi

(HERALD) Miners, millers to get loans

Miners, millers to get loans
Business Reporter

SMALL-SCALE miners and millers operating under the Zimbabwe Gold Miners and Millers Association in the Midlands and Mashonaland West provinces are set to get loans running into millions from local indigenous banks to buy the gold that they mill on behalf of other miners.

This was revealed during a tour of mills in Kadoma and Kwekwe by a team comprising of the Deputy Minister for Mines and Mining Development Mr Zvizvai Murisi and a team from TN Financial Holdings led by the group’s chief executive, Mr Tawanda Nyambirai on Friday.

Also in the entourage was another group from the POSB led by chief executive Mr Admore Kandlela and CBZ.

The team was on a mission to assess the operations and the needs of the miners and millers.

Speaking soon after the tour of at least six mills, Mr Nyambirai said they were impressed by the operations and could start disbursing the loans as early as Tuesday next week.

He said that they would be engaging the Zigmma executive this week to work out the modalities of disbursing the money.

The size of the loans, Mr Nyambirai said, would be determined by the capacity of each mill and the volumes of business that it would be attracting.

He said that the decision to expedite the processing of loans was part of the thrust to bring banking to the people.

"That is why we have banking lounges as opposed to banking halls because we only want our clients to visit us for the complicated transaction because we prefer to visit our clients to meet their banking needs.

"This is because we want them to concentrate more on their business and generate more money while we handle their banking needs because that is what we do best," he said.

He added that he was happy that the turnaround process for millers was 14 days a factor that augured well with their 30-day loans.

Zigmma’s organising secretary, Mr Casper Tsvangirai said that their members required at least US$30 million to buy gold.

He said that as an association they were willing to give guidance to the bank as well as underwrite loans accessed by the members who would be required to contribute 30 grams of gold to a sinking fund to be held by Zigmma for the purposes of repaying bankers in cases where there are defaulters.

"Gold will always continue to go out of the country illegally but this way we can guarantee that it is bought and sold properly and the money utilised to improve the welfare of the country," he said.

Zigmma has already secured licences to buy gold locally and sell it on the international market, a factor that Mr Tsvangirai said would help them get realistic prices.

He called for the reinstatement of lines of support from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and also for the relaxation of activities of the Environmental Management Authority.

Mr Kandlela said that although financing of small-scale miners was generally new to them they would strive to live up to their name as the people’s bank.

"This is a new dispensation for us and we will try to do our best in association with other banks," he said.

Mr Murisi said that the move to rope in banks to assist miners with finance to buy gold was part of efforts to ensure that gold plays a pivotal role in the country’s economic turnaround.

"Gold has been identified as one of the minerals which could underpin the success of the Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme and the 100-day Plan and we are hopeful that we will achieve our goals with the assistance of banks," he said.

The country’s gold production plunged from 7 tonnes in 2007 to 3,5 tonnes last year mainly due to non-payment for deliveries and poor capitalisation.

Labels: MASHONALAND WEST, MIDLANDS, MINING, TN FINANCIAL HOLDINGS, ZGMMA, ZVIZVAI MURISI

posted by MrK @ 2:44 PM