Maravi

(ZIMPAPERS) Chrome ore export ban to stay: Govt

Chrome ore export ban to stay: Govt
Saturday, 17 September 2011 09:26
By Prince Mushawevato

GOVERNMENT will not be lifting a chrome ore export ban effected early this year, as doing so derails its efforts to boost revenue inflows and employment creation, a senior Government official said last week.

Exports of chrome ore were banned in April this year to promote value addition. However, due to low smelting capacity in the country and low local demand, the mineral stocks have been rising.

Statistics from the Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation (ZMF) indicate that small-scale miners are currently saddled with more than 25 000 tonnes of chrome ore which is not being utilised.

Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development Mr Gift Chimanikire told The Sunday Mail Business that Government was not considering lifting the ban.

“We have since concluded that chapter. When Cabinet sits and passes a resolution, we stick to it. The current position is that we are not going to reconsider lifting of the ban on chrome ore exports,” he said.

Added Deputy Minister Chimanikire: “Even if lifting of the ban creates employment, we are not going to consider the move as the selling of unprocessed raw materials results in the country losing a lot of potential revenue and job-creation opportunities.”

Small-scale miners have been lobbying for the chrome ore export ban to be lifted citing that the country does not have the capacity to add value at the moment. However, Government maintains that Zimbabwe has adequate smelting plants throughout the country to refine the ore and produce semi-finished products such as ferrochrome.

According to Deputy Minister Chimanikire, players in the sector should be making efforts to set up smelters rather than fight to export unprocessed chrome ore.

“Effort should be directed by the affected players towards setting up smelters rather than lobby to export raw materials. This is the only way that the country will only be able to realise benefits from its vast mineral resource base,” he said.

There are eight smelters in the country with the one at Zimasco reportedly being the only one currently operational. However, Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation chief executive officer Mr Wellington Takavarasha recently indicated that Zimasco was preoccupied with smelting its own chrome and was buying a few tonnes at a very low price of about US$60 per tonne, while the same quantity on the international market costs US$150. “Zimasco is currently producing about 50 000 tonnes of the mineral and is battling to smelt it, which leaves small miners stranded with their own product,” he was quoted as saying.

Mr Takavarasha also pointed out that unprocessed chrome was depriving miners of much-needed working capital. “Productivity has since gone down due to lack of capital and also because we cannot keep on producing the mineral,” he said.

Last year, 600 000 tonnes of chrome ore was produced in the country but expectations to surpass the figure have since been dashed by the export ban. According to figures from the ZMF, besides major chrome miners Zimasco and ZimAlloys, there are more than 450 chrome miners in the country. Production levels among the miners had since 2009 been improving with the average output being 1 000 metric tonnes per month.

The federation last year launched a drive to mechanise an estimated 10 000 members. Government first considered banning export of raw chrome in 2007 as a loss-control measure. Two years later, a ban was slapped on the mineral in the first nine months of 2009. The ban was temporarily lifted last year and revenue from chrome exports amounted to US$33 million during the first nine months of the year.

Initially the move was an effort to promote small-scale chrome miners to set up more smelters around the country, but it has, however, had adverse effects on the intended beneficiaries. The chrome ore mined in Zimbabwe is high grade (containing about 46 percent pure chrome), which is found mostly in the Midlands province along the Great Dyke.

Major areas where chrome mining is undertaken are Shurugwi, Mutorashanga, Lalapanzi and Guinea Fowl with the smelting being done in Kwekwe. Chrome commands great interest because of its high corrosion resistance and hardness.-The Sunday Mail

Labels: CHROME, EXPORTS, MINING

posted by MrK @ 3:04 PM