Maravi

(HERALD) Beggars on a beach of gold

Beggars on a beach of gold
Tuesday, 13 March 2012 21:44
Caesar Zvayi, Deputy Editor

The joke that has been doing the rounds since the discovery of diamonds in Marange is that VanaWasu (colloquial for people from Manicaland) were busy loading rough diamonds on their catapults to shoot birds from baobab trees that are ubiquitous in the Chiadzwa area.

Oblivious to the value of the stones they were sending hurtling into the sky, vanaWasu would continually send thousands of dollars worth of diamonds hurtling into the sky in search of worthless Quelea birds. In other words they did not know that every stone they were shooting was so valuable it would have bought them several herd of cattle.

And VanaWasu being the jovial characters that they are take it all in their stride, especially if the wise waters are freely flowing and the sweet voiced and soft skinned ones are nearby for they are always harp, ‘‘mhamba ingonaka panaMai.’’ I have shared this joke with my friends from the Eastern Highlands and we always have a good laugh about it. Suffice to say we may all be the proverbial Wasus given our lackadaisical approach to our very finite but valuable mineral resources that are being carted out to benefit mainly South Africa or Western countries from where our much-vaunted investors hail.

Nathaniel Manheru broached this subject a few weeks back querying the fixation with Chiadzwa and what comes out of it to the total exclusion of other mining areas in Zimbabwe. It appears every Tom, Dick and Harry has an opinion about Chiadzwa. Even the so-called civil society has demanded ‘‘unfettered access’’ to the diamond fields despite their ‘‘high security area’’ status. Morgan Tsvangirai and his ‘‘monkey-see, monkey do’’ sidekick Arthur Mutambara have also joined the fray, talking themselves hoarse over Chiadzwa conveniently forgetting Murowa (which is 78 percent owned by Rio Tinto) or River Ranch.

If we are at all serious about attaining the US$100 billion economy that the finance ministry loves to harp about, then we need to take stock of what we have and ensure that we benefit from every mineral the way the Chiadzwa gems are breathing life into our comatose economy. For instance, Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, was quoted telling investors in Johannesburg that there is a chasm between what the Ministry of Finance is getting from diamonds — and other minerals — and what he believes is actually being produced and exported.

Biti revealed that the fiscus got US$80 million from diamonds in 2010 and is this year set to receive more than US$600 million. Contrast this with the US$150 million the country reportedly earned from all other minerals combined in 2011 against mining exports valued at US$2,5 billion and you get the feeling we are ignorantly throwing our minerals away and being content with meagre returns like the proverbial Samanyika and his catapult.

But what do we have under this soil the British get so red in the face about? Believe it or not, our country, deserves the moniker ‘‘Persian Gulf of Minerals’’ and its quite shocking that we could only get, and be content with a measly US$150 million from such a diverse and valuable store. For the benefit of our Finance Minister, who wanted us declared a Highly Indebted Poor Country, here is what we are sitting on:

Gold: We are estimated to have over 3,5 billion tonnes beneath our soils. More than 90 percent of these deposits are located in the granite-greenstone terrain which covers about 60 percent of the country. Being home to over 6 000 recorded deposits, we have the capacity to produce at least 25 tonnes of gold annually.

Iron Ore: Our high-grade deposits are estimated to be over 251,17m tonnes.

Nickel: The country’s known deposits of 41,9 million tonnes are being mined at Trojan and Shangani mines in the south of the country. Among the base metals exploited in the country, nickel predominates in terms of value and contributes significantly to foreign currency generation. Bindura also hosts a smelter and refinery.

Platinum Group of Minerals (PGM): Our deposits, the second largest in the world, are estimated to be over 3,05 billion tonnes. They are found along the Great Dyke. After South Africa, we hold the second largest deposits, mined at the Chegutu, Wedza and Shurugwi complexes — all along the Great Dyke. Exploration for more PGMs is underway in areas outside the Great Dyke.

Coal: Our huge coal resource base of over 8,87 billion tonnes is found in the Zambezi and the Save-Limpopo basins. It is renowned for its high ash content, low calorific values, low sulphur and phosphorus content needed in thermal power generation. To date, only coal resources within the mid-Zambezi basin have been reasonably exploited as the coal-bearing strata in this area is generally shallow and amenable to open cast mining.

Chrome: Our deposits are estimated to be over 50 million tonnes. Production is mainly along the Great Dyke. We are the world’s fifth largest producer of chromite after South Africa, Kazakhstan, Turkey and India. Processed chrome, or high carbon ferrochrome (HCF), is one of our major foreign currency earners.

Asbestos: We are the fifth largest producers of high quality white asbestos fibre in the world, which is produced in the full range of grades required by customers. Our deposits are estimated over 47,1 million tonnes.

Diamonds: There have been over 130 discoveries of Kimberlite pipes in Zimbabwe. Known deposits are over 15 million tonnes. The story of our diamonds has become the stuff of legend following the discovery of three potentially lucrative kimberlite pipes in the Zvishavane district.

A new mine, Murowa Diamond Mine, with production figures of 200 000 tonnes per annum, is in operation. Such kimberlitic occurrences are spatially related and found in similar geological settings to those in diamond-rich Botswana. Consequently, there is immense potential for the discovery of more diamond fields as exploratory activities in the Marange area have shown.

Coal Bed Methane (CBM) gas: We have the largest known reserves of coal bed methane (CBM) gas in sub-Saharan Africa. CBM is a gas produced from the decomposition of organic matter during the formation of coal. All coalfields are, therefore, potential CBM gas fields. In Zimbabwe, CBM gas resources have so far been discovered in the Hwange and Lupane areas of the Matabeleland North Province, the Lubimbi area in Binga, the Sengwa area of Gokwe, and in Chiredzi in the south east.

Uranium: Exploration in the country dates back to the 1950s when surveys were carried out in the Zambezi Valley. Deposits were subsequently discovered, and with the ever increasing global fuel prices and the projected power deficit in Southern Africa, uranium stands out as one of the key alternatives to both oil and electricity imports. Apart from the minerals highlighted above, we also have huge deposits of over 40 other “strategic” minerals that are still to be, exploited. So how can such a cache give us a paltry US$150 million when, for instance Mbada Diamonds alone is remitting US$15 million to treasury every month, and Chiadzwa alone is going to give us over US$600 million?

Take for instance the case of Zimplats which is exporting more than 100 000 ounces of platinum each year. With platinum going for US$1 699 per ounce, it means we are giving South Africa US$170million every year, and this is just one mine, Zimplats. How does that compare to the US$150million remitted to treasury by all the mines? What is more Impala Platinum, the holding company for Zimplats, expects to ship out 100 000 ounces per year for the next 50 years which translates to US$8,5 billion of our money feeding into the South African economy.

Given the fact Zimplats has stubbornly refused to set-up a smelter, we are also exporting jobs and other platinum by-products that would significantly feed into this figure of US$8,5 billion. The question is how much has Zimplats contributed to the fiscus? Would love to hear it from Minister Biti who loves to harp about a Chiadzwa that is sustaining an economy being bled by a largely unsupervised mining sector.

Why are we still borrowing when we have all these minerals at our disposal? Why are we not demanding our fair share? The bottom line is we are like beggars sitting on a beach of gold, drifters drifting on silver seas as British crooner, Mike Rutherford put it.

‘‘Oh Lord, I’m a poor man. With all the riches I can hold I’m a beggar, and I’m sitting on a beach of gold.’’

Its time we stopped watching our eyelids.

Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, DIAMONDS, MARANGE DIAMOND FIELDS

posted by MrK @ 10:55 PM