Canadian firm starts gold exploration project
Thursday, 19 April 2012 00:00
Tawanda Musarurwa Business Reporter
CANADIAN gold producer New Dawn Mining Corporation has initiated an 8 000-metre exploration project at its Camperdown Mine Gold project in Zimbabwe. The Camperdown Mine is part of the firm’s Gweru gold camp located in the Shurugwi District.
According to the company, the exploration project is aimed to “test the down-dip extent of the known mineralised zones within the claims area”.
New Dawn said the new targets are adjacent to existing gold mineralisation, and the extent of mineralisation is open both horizontally and vertically.
The Camperdown Mine has been operated in the past as both an open-pit and a small underground operation and is considered to have good future potential as a low grade-high tonnage open-pit proposition.
Historical production (up to 1992) was reported to be 220 000 ounces of gold from 3,3 million tonnes of ore at a recovered grade of 2,0 grammes per tonne of gold.
Mineralisation occurs in a number of discrete zones within a domal-shaped banded iron formation, cross-cut by numerous quartz veins which themselves can also be mineralised.
New Dawn reports that the banded iron formation dome, which is being explored, has relatively shallow dips of less than 30 degrees in all principal directions.
However, the lateral extent of this mineralisation is not yet known.
In a statement, the company said the project might take up to six months to complete.
“Contingent on drilling parameters, the programme is expected to take up to six months, with analysis of the results expected to be completed by the end of December 2012.
“Based on the results of this drilling programme, the company may consider additional exploratory work to further define and develop this opportunity,” said New Dawn.
New Dawn is a Zimbabwe-focused junior gold company, currently focused on expanding its gold mining operations in the country.
It also owns 100 percent of the Turk and Angelus Mine, and the Old Nic Mine, as well as approximately 85 percent of the Dalny Mine, the Golden Quarry Mine and Venice Mine (currently not in operation).
The initiation of the Camperdown project comes at a time when the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development has ordered 469 local and foreign miners (including New Dawn) to resubmit applications for exploration rights that detail their shareholding, proposed work, proof of funding and technical capacity.
New Dawn also has a portfolio of prospective exploration acreage in Zimbabwe.
The company has indicated it would use its indigenisation compliance plan to raise funds to implement its current business plans, indicating a significant bias towards equity disposal.
The firm’s indigenisation compliance plans are likely to include employee and community share ownership schemes, disposal of equity to identified indigenous Zimbabweans, as well as listing on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
Labels: GOLD, GOLD MINES, NEW DAWN MINING CORP
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COMMENT - How Goldman Sachs destroyed Ashanti Gold with toxic assets.
UK Gold Selloff as Goldman Sachs Screwed Ghana
January 7, 2012
By admin
Selling the nation
Goldman Sachs, the global financial institution, with fraud allegations levied against it has a long history of setting up its clients for a fall…and making handsome profits. This is a story of how this global investment banking and securities firm screwed Ghana
In 1998, Ashanti Gold was the 3rd largest Gold Mining company in the world. The first “black” company on the London Stock Exchange, Ashanti had just purchased the Geita mine in Tanzania, positioning Ashanti to become even larger. But in May 1999, the Treasury of the United Kingdom decided to sell off 415 tons of its gold reserves. With all that gold flooding the world market, the price of gold began to decline. By August 1999, the price of gold had fallen to $252/ounce, the lowest it had been in 20 years.
Ashanti turned to its Financial Advisers – Goldman Sachs – for advice. Goldman Sachs recommended that Ashanti purchase enormous hedge contracts – “bets” on the price of gold. Simplifying this somewhat, it was similar to when a homeowner ‘locks in’ a price for heating oil months in advance. Goldman recommended that Ashanti enter agreements to sell gold at a ‘locked-in’ price, and suggested that the price of gold would continue to fall. [1]
But Goldman was more than just Ashanti’s adviser’s. They were also sellers of these Hedge contracts, and stood to make money simply by selling them. And they were also world-wide sellers of Gold itself.
In September 1999 (one month later), 15 European Banks with whom Goldman had professional relationships made a unanimous surprise announcement that all 15 would stop selling gold on world markets for 5 years. The announcement immediately drove up gold prices to $307/ounce, and by October 6, it had risen to $362/ounce.
Ashanti was in trouble. At Goldman’s advice, they had bet that gold prices would continue to drop, and had entered into contracts to sell gold at lower prices. These contracts were held by a group of 17 other world banks. Ashanti found themselves being forced to buy gold at high world prices and sell it at the low contract prices to make good on the contracts. The result? In a few weeks time, Ashanti found itself with 570 million dollars worth of losses. It had to beg the 17 banks not to force the execution of the contracts.
Who served as the negotiator for the 17 banks and Ashanti? Goldman Sachs. The same company that designed the contracts for Ashanti(making a profit in their sale. [2]
The basic bankruptcy of Ashanti drove its stock price from an all time high of $25 per share to a paltry $4.62 per share. Thousands of investors – your blogger among them – lost their investments almost overnight as Ashanti was declared insolvent.
In the end (2003), Ashanti was purchased by their largest African competitor, AngloGold, a British company headquartered in South Africa, who bought them for a song. The Financial Advisers to AngloGold? You guessed it: Goldman Sachs. [3]
The destruction of Ashanti Gold by Goldman Sachs was saturated with fraud[4] and conflicts of interest: Goldman Sachs served as Ashanti’s Financial Advisers; profited form the contracts they designed and marketed for Ashanti; was involved in the manipulation of the gold prices on which the contracts depended; represented Ashanti’s creditors when the contracts went bad; and profited as the Financial Advisers to the company that picked up the Ashanti corpse for pennies on the dollar.
Source
Notes
[1] Ghana’s share in Mineral Export
[2] Anglogold-Ashanti records
[3] AngloGold purchase Ashanti
[4] AngloGold Ashanti and Obuasi Police lied
Further Study
Goldman Sachs Takeover the European Union
Labour and the Coalition, a Trio of Destruction
Eurozone Government Defaults Bordering on Absolute, but is there a Goldman Twist in this Tale?
Goldman Sachs and the Obama Government
Tags: AngloGold, Ashanti Gold, Geita mine, Ghana, Goldman Sachs, London Stock Exchange, UK sell off 415 tons of its gold reserves
This entry was posted on January 7, 2012 at 17:21 and is filed under Africa, Finance, Goldman Sachs, The City. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Labels: GHANA, GOLD, GOLD MINES
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Ausstralian firm targets Bulawayo mine
03/02/2012 00:00:00
by Gilbert Nyambabvu
AUSTRALIA-BASED ElDore Mining Corporation looks to join the ranks of Zimbabwe’s gold producers with the acquisition of Lonely Gold Mine for US$4.4 million in a cash and equity deal.
ElDore Mining’s announcement comes at a time of renewed interest in the mining sector despite concerns over the country’s controversial economic empowerment policies and the recent huge increases in royalty fees and other levies.
Lonely Gold Mine, located about 80 kilometres north of Bulawayo in the gold-producing Bubi greenstone belt, was the country’s largest single gold producer until its closure in the mid-1990s. It has historical underground production of up to 1.1 million ounces of gold.
In a statement this week, ElDore said it plans to determine the potential to restart operations at the mine along with discovering the size and scale of operations and exploration prospects.
Due diligence will be carried out over the next 60 days and the company will seek shareholder and regulatory approval for the acquisition.
ElDore will pay the seller US$2.4 million in cash and US$2 million in shares.
Half of the shares will be payable upon settlement and the other half on first production pour of 20kg, or 643 ounces, of gold.
Officials said the same milestones will determine the cash payment with US$500,000 paid on settlement and US$1.9 million on gold pour.
ElDore also has operations in the West African country of Burkina Faso as well as Papua New Guinea and Romania.
The mining sector has been the key driver of economic recovery over the last few years, buoyed by better commodity prices on the world market and a more liberalised local operating environment.
Government officials say the sector grew by 25.8 percent in 2011 and is projected to expand by another 15.9 percent in 2012 with increased output forecast for all minerals.
Labels: GOLD, GOLD MINES, MINING
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Freda Rebecca mine reaching gold production target
By: StockMarketWire.com
Posted: Thursday, October 21, 2010 2:22 am
MINING group
Mwana Africa reported gold production at the Freda Rebecca mine in Zimbabwe of 2,600oz in September, nearing its consistent Phase 1 target rate of 30,000oz per annum. Production operations restarted at Freda Rebecca a year ago with completion of the first phase of a two-phase refurbishment programme.
Mwana said early production difficulties were caused by poor availability of the refurbished mining fleet but this was addressed in July with the purchase of two new haul trucks. Since then production tonnage, grade and recovery had made steady progress towards its target.
A total of 11,920oz was produced March-September, generating $14.8m in revenue. Preparatory work had commenced on the Phase 2 mill refurbishment. Mwana also said debt and off-take terms for its Bindura restart programme were under negotiation.
In its Zani Kodo, DRC, exploration programme, it had identified gold mineralisation at predicted locations and had confirmation of potential significant mineralisation along the complete 9km strike length of the trend.
Labels: FREDA REBECCA MINE, GOLD, GOLD MINES, MWANA AFRICA PLC
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COMMENT - Question: how much of these 320 million grams of gold are going to the Congolese government. If the answer is nothing, then Joseph Kabila is nothing but a bribe artist, and RandGold and the London Stock Exchange are fences, criminal receivers of property stolen from the Congolese people. There is a reason the Congolese people are poor, while their country owns massive amounts of resources, and that reason is
THEFT.
Huge DR Congo gold mine to open, displacing 15,000
22 July 2010 Last updated at 13:17 GMT
Senior Randgold executives inspect core samples at Kibali (undated handout picture) Randgold plans to begin mining in Kibali next year. Mining firm Randgold Resources says it is to begin mining Africa's largest undeveloped gold deposit - in eastern DR Congo.
The mine will require the re-location of 15,000 people, but Randgold says the project has the support of the government and the local community. The mine is thought to have a reserve of about 320 tonnes of gold, it says.
It is as big as any of the current mines in South Africa, one of the world's biggest gold producers.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has massive mineral resources but most of its people live in poverty.
The battle to control mines has been a major factor in the conflict which has raged in eastern DR Congo for at least 16 years.
Randgold, listed on the London Stock Exchange, says it will begin developing the mine from the middle of 2011.
The Kibali gold project is located in a remote corner of DR Congo, close to the Ugandan border.
To develop it, Randgold has had to build a 180km (112-mile) road eastwards to Uganda.
The region is near an area where Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has operated, but the company says the local police and security forces have ensured the project can go ahead
Church and cemetery
Randgold chief executive Mark Bristow said the site will be secure.
"We have been operating here for nine months now. This is not connected with the eastern part of the Congo.
"This area has not had a history of conflict. We don't arm people... The state provides security. There is the police and the army, which is working with the Ugandans against the LRA in an area north of here."
Randgold says it has won community support, despite the fact that 15,000 people will have to be moved, as well as a Catholic church and a cemetery.
Mr Bristow said the villagers lived in "very poor, poor conditions" and would be moved to a new village constructed by the company.
Foreign "gold washers" at the site had also been moved away from the company's permit area as they were illegal, he said.
Labels: DRC, GOLD, GOLD MINES, RANDGOLD
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Exploration begins at Turk and Angelus Mine complex
By: CBR
Posted: Thursday, May 20, 2010 12:07 pm
NEW Dawn Mining Corporation has commenced three separate exploration programmes at its Turk and Angelus Mine Complex in a bid to increase its gold resource base. Turk and Angelus Mine Complex consists of three mineshafts namely — the Main vertical shaft, the Armenian shaft and the Angelus shaft.
“Over the past several months New Dawn has advanced three independent exploration programmes at its Turk and Angelus Mine Complex that are intended to not only add to our existing gold resource base, but may also add a fourth operating section to the mine complex,” said the company’s president, Mr Ian Saunders, in a statement.
He said the exploration programmes would be funded from operating cash flow from gold sales generated from gold produced at Turk Mine.
“The three separate underground exploration programmes at Turk and Angelus mines complex are aimed at increasing New Dawn’s gold resources. Exploration has commenced in a new area located west of the Armenian Shaft.
“Phase two of the underground diamond-drilling programme has commenced in the area west of the Armenian shaft. The two-phase programme has been designed to cover the area from four Level and 12 Level along the approximately 100 metres of newly identified strike,” reads part of the statement.
New Dawn said the area of Batyali it was now exploring was approximately 240 metres deep.
“The section is expected to contain approximately 650 000 to 900 000 tonnes of mineralised material.”
New Dawn said it expected the first phase of the drilling to be completed in the third quarter.
Gold mining companies have embarked on various activities to increase output following the liberalisation of the sector by the central bank last year that allowed miners to look for own markets and get prices prevailing on the international market for their mineral.
The measures have seen companies once placed on care and maintenance resuming operations.
Labels: DAWN MINING CORPORATION, GOLD, GOLD MINES, IAN SAUNDERS
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Bulawayo Mine revenues grow 43 percent
by Gilbert Nyambabvu
15/01/2010 00:00:00
TURK Mine recorded a 43 percent jump in fourth quarter gold sales which saw revenues over the three months to December 31, 2009 topping US$4 million.
The mine, which is located some 56 kilometres north-east of Bulawayo is the principal asset of Canada-based New Dawn Mining, a junior resources firm which primarily focuses on opportunities in Southern Africa.
New Dawn said Turk Mine achieved “record gold production” levels with sales reaching US$3.9 million during the quarter ended December 31, 2009.
This was a huge improvement on the US$2.8 million recorded during the previous quarter.
And to put the achievement in even clearer perspective, revenues for the financial year ended September 2009 totalled US$5.6 million.
“I am pleased to report to shareholders that we achieved record sales during the quarter as a result of both increased production and the higher gold spot price.
“The higher gold prices have allowed us to accelerate our internally funded growth programme from which we expect to see the benefits in subsequent periods,” Ian Saunders, President and CEO of New Dawn said.
Operations at Turk mine were scaled-back to care and maintenance over the last couple of years as a result of the adverse political and economic conditions obtaining in Zimbabwe but production resumed in late March 2009 after the country’s political leaders reached a deal to form a coalition government.
Since then a series of positive policy measures by the government and firming world market prices for minerals have sent the country’s key mining sector begin to recover from years of negative growth.
“At the start of the New Year, our focus for 2010 is clear.
“We will continue our efforts to increase and accelerate production at Turk Mine and advance development of our exploration properties in Zimbabwe while continuing to pursue value acquisitions in the country,” Saunders said.
Apart from Turk, New Dawn’s other interests in Zimbabwe include Angelus Mines in the upper South-western area of the country which has the potential to produce an estimated 35 000 to 50 000 ounces of gold per annum.
The company also has a portfolio of exploration properties in the country which include the Consolidated Bubi Gold Fields, Consolidated Midlands Gold Fields and the Consolidated Shurugwi Gold Fields.
Labels: GOLD MINES, ZIMBABWE
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Lease out mines, claim holders urged
Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Miners Federation has called on mining claim holders with huge chunks of land to lease some parts of their idle claims to small-scale miners on a tribute system for maximum utilisation of the country’s mineral resources.
Zimbabwe Miners Federation president Mr Trynos Nkomo said the country has large chunks of idle mining claims that were being held lawfully by locals, but provision needed to be put in place to maximise on these claims.
"There are a lot of people who are holding on to mining claims they are currently not using. As a federation we are calling on such people to engage small scale miners on these claims on a tribute system.
"This system will not only allow our miners to work on those claims, but also enables them to pay tribute to the owner. It has to be noted that this facility is also stated in the Minerals Act," said Mr Nkomo.
Citing successful examples of the practice, Mr Nkomo said the practice could be done with no problems being encountered between the agreed parties.
"I know of one miner in Gwanda who has roped in small-scale women miners and the working relationship between the two parties has been professional at all levels. The women are now supplying gold to the federation and to Fidelity Printers," added Mr Nkomo.
The Government has been warning claim holders to fully utilise their mining claims or risk losing them. The mining sector has been identified as a critical sector in the nation’s path to economic recovery.
Revolving funds given to organisations such as the Zimbabwe Gold Miners Association and ZMF by financial institutions has witnessed improved harnessing of gold in the market.
In the past, gold has been smuggled out of the country and the country has been failing to benefit from its mineral resources. Other neighbouring countries have been benefiting as a result of smuggling of minerals such as gold.
Labels: GOLD MINES, TRYNOS NKOMO, ZIMBABWE MINERS FEDERATION
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RioZim ramps up gold production
by
13/10/2009 00:00:00
ZIMBABWEAN miner RioZim plans to ramp up gold production to 80 kg a month from the current 60 kg a month at its Renco mine by the end of the year, the company's managing director said on Tuesday.
RioZim, previously owned by Rio Tinto, operates Renco gold mine in southern Zimbabwe and is a 22 percent shareholder in the country's largest diamond miner, Murowa, in which Rio Tinto has 78 percent shares.
The company's managing director Josphat Sachikonye said exploration at Cam and Motor was encouraging, and plans to start an open pit gold mine were promising.
"Renco mine should be producing 80 kg of gold per month by the end of the year," Sachikonye said in a written response to questions from Reuters.
"The results of exploration work undertaken to date (at Cam and Motor) are very encouraging."
Total gold production at Renco in 2008 was 456 kg but Sachikonye did not give target output for this year. - Reuters
Labels: GOLD MINES
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Zim eyes re-admission to bullion market
by Oscar Nkala
12/08/2009 00:00:00
THE Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines (CoM) says the country could rejoin the London Bullion Market (LBM) fold within two years, but warns that this would only be possible if the current rate of recovery in the key gold-mining sector is maintained or exceeded.
Zimbabwe was kicked out of the LBM last year, when its annual gold production hit rock bottom, at just 3 072 kg, compared with slightly over 10 000 kg in 2006 and the high of 27 000 kg attained in 1999. The ouster followed numerous production problems, financial constraints, a worsening power crisis and the nonpayment of a huge debt owed to producers by Fidelity Printers & Refineries, a Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe subsidiary, which, at the time, was the sole buyer and exporter of gold in the country.
Addressing mining industry stakeholders and business leaders at the recent Mining, Transport and Engineering exhibition, in Bulawayo, CoM president Victor Gapare said the prediction of Zimbabwe’s early return to the international bullion market was based on the steadily increasing output from gold-mining since the liberalisation of the economy in February.
He said both the trading and operating environments were generally favourable for producers and this had prompted the return of more players, which had, in turn, resulted in increased gold production.
“As far as trading on the LBM is concerned, this is [based on] producing 10 t/y and there is need for us to show that consistency for two years. At the moment, gold production is picking up. Between January and June, the country saw 1 t delivered, and if this trend continues, within another year, we will be exceeding 10 t,” Gapare says.
He said Zimbabwe stood a good chance of achieving this because the favourable conditions ushered in by the deregulation of trading in the sector could lure more investors. He added that the unity government had managed to reduce the political risk factors associated with investing in the country.
Gapare, however, noted the threat presented by renewed power cuts to a quick rebound of the mining industry. Incessant power cuts had intensified over the past weeks, after Zimbabwe’s neighbours, who supplied power to the Southern African country, decided to reduce supplies by half.
Mozambique, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo each cut their supplies to Zimbabwe to press for the payment of a collective US$57-million debt that has remained unpaid for more than a year. The countries had earlier decided to switch off power supplies completely, but were persuaded to relent.
Zimbabwe’s power generation capacity has been whittled down by ten years of economic meltdown, and the new unity government, comprising President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change, says it needs more than US$600-million to revive the power sector. - Mining Weekly
Labels: CHAMBER OF MINES, GOLD MINES
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Gono slams banks
By Walter Muchinguri and Edward Mukaro
RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono has slammed some banks for allegedly holding onto millions of United States dollars instead of lending the money out to credible businesses.
Dr Gono said by the end of May some banks were sitting on US$600 million in deposits and that some banks with as much as US$190 million had only lent out US$2 million.
The governor was speaking during a ceremony organised by the Minister of Mines and Mining Development to unveil 50kg of gold that had been acquired by Zimbabwe Gold Miners and Millers Association to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, his two deputies and several Government ministers.
The gold was acquired in just four days using US$500 000 made available by TN Bank.
The bank has since extended another US$500 000 to the association after it exhausted the initial allocation.
Dr Gono said the issue of banks refusing to lend out money was of major concern during his weekly meetings with Finance Minister Tendai Biti.
He said while he was under pressure to crack the whip on such banks, he believed that the errant banks should carry out self-introspection to assess their relevance in the national economic matrix.
"These banks need to look at themselves and see whether they are still relevant in the economy.
"We do not want to direct banks on what to do with their funds because we want banks to be free to utilise their funds the way they see fit," he said.
He commended TN financial services and POSB for having responded to the call by gold miners for funds to purchase gold.
"POSB is one of the smallest banks in the country while TN Bank is the last born in terms of our banks because it has been less than a year since we issued them with a licence but they are leading in this initiative yet there are some banks that have been operating in the country for more than a 100 years that are still to come to the table," said Dr Gono.
He said the continued inflows of gold could be used to help re-introduce the Zimbabwe dollar in that its value and the printing of the currency would be pegged against the amount of gold the country has in its vaults.
He said the use of gold coins and gold bullion as an asset of value was already in the Banking Act.
Speaking at the same occasion, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said there was need for banks to take risks when they spot opportunities.
"As politicians we take political risks and likewise bankers should also take business risks. Vasingadi vanoda kugara mucomfort zone vasiyeyi vakadaro haimirire ivete," he said. (Let those that want to remain in their comfort zones do so because time does not wait for anyone).
He said there was need for Government as the principal to ensure the success of the empowerment process by enacting policies and laws that enable Zimbabweans to explore their full potential.
The way Government handles policies, he said, had the power to empower or dis-empower people.
PM Tsvangirai said the reason why the African continent had remained poor despite countries having been independent for more than 50 years, was because there had been too much concentration on political issues as opposed to economic independence.
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara called for a paradigm shift in the banking requirements pertaining to loan applications.
He said the current requirements discriminated against people at the bottom end of the pyramid who had potential but did not have registered assets that could be used as collateral.
"For instance a woman works for 20 hours and you investigate and establish that they work for 20 hours, why can you not give that person a loan against that commitment," he said.
The Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu commended TN Financial Services and POSB for their support adding that as a ministry they were working round the clock to engage other line ministries on issues that impact on small-scale mining.
He said Government had already engaged the co-Ministers of Home Affairs and the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Management to ensure that miners are not harassed by police and also that agencies such as the Environmental Management Agency are lenient in their discharge of their duty.
The Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment, Saviour Kasukuwere said the occasion marked a giant step in the empowerment of the masses.
He said there was need to work around issues that affect the masses and ensure that they are properly empowered including ensuring that they also get facilities such as credit cards and medical aid facilities.
Meanwhile, POSB yesterday extended a loan of R5 million to ZIGMMA for gold purchases.
Speaking during the occasion Minister Mpofu said POSB’s would benefit the economy in that much of the gold that was once being trafficked to other destinations would be sold locally.
"These funds will help ZIGMMA to purchase the gold that is in abundance especially amongst small-scale miners.
"A lot of our gold has been benefiting other countries mainly as a result of trafficking and therefore the move by Government to liberalise the purchasing of gold could witness the total turn around of the economy," he said.
Labels: BANKING, GIDEON GONO, GOLD MINES, NEOCOLONIALISM, TN BANK
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Economic, political reforms set to aid mining
Business Reporters
THE ongoing economic and political reforms will play a key role in the revival of Zimbabwe’s mining sector, a Cabinet minister has said. The Minister of Mines and Development, Obert Mpofu, lamented the deterioration of a once thriving sector to "a pale shadow of its true potential".
Mpofu was speaking at a recent workshop at the Harare International Conference Centre, in Harare.
"Indeed Zimbabwe is undergoing various transformations on the socio-political and economic aspects of its operating environment," he said.
"These ongoing economic and political reforms are positive developments on the operating environment that will enable viability of the mining sector and the national economy in general."
Gold production had fallen from 25 000 tonnes in 1999 to 5 000 tonnes in 2008. Copper and chrome, among other minerals, were no exception to this decline.
Minister Mpofu said the creation of an inclusive Government, the consolidation of which is going on, and positive reforms and liberalisation of several economic aspects — such as exchange rates and monetary policy in general — and the evaluation and proposed amendment to the mining legislation, would aid economic recovery.
Minister Mpofu said the country’s business operating environment was set to improve.
The environment was a dynamic aspect that needed continuous interventions to enable the Government, investors and the community to accrue sustainable mutual benefits.
Output in gold, platinum and other metals in that group had declined and many precious stones had been on a downward trend ever since.
At one time Zimbabwe was the third largest producer of gold in Africa.
Recent statistics reveal trends of a free fall in an industry with potential to drive the economy.
Research carried out had shown that whilst the country was sitting on an estimated 13 million tonnes of gold ore, it managed to produce
3 072 tonnes in the year to December 2008 as compared with 6 790 tonnes the previous year.
This slump is mainly attributed to under utilisation of existing mines.
In 2007, gold output declined by 33 percent. This is an output of about 7,5 percent whilst for the same year chrome was expected to decline by 12 percent with phosphates declining by 15 percent.
Labels: GOLD MINES, MINING, ZIMBABWE
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Gold companies restart mining in Zim
Bloomberg
Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:03:00 +0000
GOLD producers are re-starting shut mines in Zimbabwe after new rules allowed them to sell gold directly on world markets, and keep the proceeds.
- On Feb. 2, Zimbabwe's central bank announced it would allow gold producers to sell their own bullion, after output slumped in 2008 by more than 50 percent.
- Gold contributes one-third to Zimbabwe's export earnings following the collapse of commercial agriculture after President Robert Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks.
- At its peak, the country produced 2,400 kg of gold per month. Last year production stood at a record low of 3,072 kg from 6,798 kg in 2007.
- About half of Zimbabwe's mining firms are foreign owned.
- Zimbabwe's largest gold miner Metallon Gold is negotiating a $10 million loan from local and foreign banks to restart operations at its closed mines next month.
- London-listed Mwana Africa Plc aims to reopen a Zimbabwe gold mine within six months and is also weighing restarting its Bindura nickel operations.
- Caledonia Mining Corp. plans to resume mining at the Blanket gold mine in Zimbabwe.
- Other than gold, Zimbabwe has the second largest platinum reserves in the world after South Africa, and Impala Platinum -- the mining firm with the biggest operations in Zimbabwe -- is expanding its output in Zimbabwe to 260,000 ounces of platinum by 2010 from around 160,000 oz. The company expects output of 1.7 million oz this year.
- In the long term, Implats would like to grow production to 1 million oz a year in Zimbabwe.
- Anglo Platinum, the world's biggest platinum producer, has said its Unki project in Zimbabwe will produce some 150,000 oz a year when fully operational. Angloplat expects to produce 2.4 million oz this year.
- Rio Tinto and Aquarius Platinum also own mines in Zimbabwe.
Labels: GOLD MINES, SANCTIONS, ZIMBABWE
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Mining firms pay nothing to extract the ore, leaving us to pay billions in cleanup costs.
By Jane Danowitz
December 11, 2007
Gifts of jewelry -- particularly gold -- are a perennial favorite on Santa's list. And with the metal's price hovering near $800 an ounce, the tiniest golden bauble, bangle or bead will be a coveted commodity. But even if you don't elect to splurge on this luxury, it will still cost you plenty because mining companies from around the world can take gold from U.S. lands basically for free, leaving taxpayers with nothing but the cost of cleaning up the damage that mining leaves behind.
Although the practice seems naughty, it's all nice and legal because of an obsolete federal law. And although the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed legislation to close the loopholes, the metal mining industry's allies in the Senate may block the long-overdue reforms.
The mining of gold and other hard-rock minerals on public lands is governed by the General Mining Law of 1872, which has remained virtually unchanged since it was signed by President Grant to encourage settlement of the West. The statute was designed to reward pioneers who survived the trek across the frontier with the opportunity to mine gold and other metals freely and in unlimited amounts.
The prospectors are long gone, but the incentives remain. Today, the highly profitable hard-rock mining industry -- much of it foreign-owned -- continues to receive generous U.S. tax breaks. And it pays virtually nothing for gold and other precious metals it takes from public lands with few restraints. In sharp contrast, oil, gas and coal companies have been reimbursing taxpayers for decades with billions of dollars in royalties that were paid for resources removed from federal property.
Not surprisingly, such free and easy access has resulted in the United States joining the ranks of the world's top producers of gold, most of which ends up as jewelry. And despite its escalating cost, world demand is soaring. The United States now imports less gold than it sends overseas, predominantly to eager consumers in India, China and the Middle East.
The gold may be exported, but the mess made stays behind. The production of just one gold ring generates about 20 tons of waste, according to one mining policy organization, much of it left to litter the landscape as well as polluting rivers and streams. Today, most gold is mined from open pits, which can run a mile long and equally as deep. Utah's Bingham Canyon, which produces gold as well as copper, silver and molybdenum, forms a crater large enough to be visible from outer space.
Moreover, once the ore has been excavated, mining companies separate the gold from the rock with cyanide -- a substance so toxic that voters in Montana have outlawed its use in outdoor chemical processing. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, taxpayers face a bill of more than $50 billion to clean up the waste and water contamination that gold and other hard-rock mining has left behind.
It's about to get worse. Driven by record demand and a weak U.S. dollar, investors and speculators are snatching up mining claims at an alarming rate. A recent analysis of government data by the nonpartisan Environmental Working Group found that, in the last five years, there has been an 80% increase in the number of new mining claims in 12 Western states, many within a stone's throw of Grand Canyon, Yosemite and other national parks.
A solution may finally be at hand. The House recently passed bipartisan legislation that would establish royalty payments and set up long-overdue environmental standards for operations and cleanup, as well as provide special protection for parks, wild and scenic river corridors, and national forest roadless areas. The measure faces a tougher test in the Senate, where its important environmental and taxpayer protections could get watered down by mining industry allies.
Mining is an important part of the nation's economy. But it must be regulated by modern law -- one that protects the environment and the taxpayers. Considering the billions of dollars of precious metals the hard-rock mining industry has been given without charge, it's time for Congress to stop playing Santa for a few companies and start thinking about leaving a little something for the taxpayers who have been footing the bills.
Jane Danowitz directs the Pew Charitable Trusts' Campaign for Responsible Mining.
Labels: GOLD MINES, USA
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170 women receive mining certificates
Chinhoyi Bureau
AT LEAST 174 women from three districts in Mashonaland West province last week received mining certificates from the Zimbabwe Women in Mining group. The certificates will allow the women to start mining their claims. Beneficiaries were individuals and syndicates run by women from Banket, Hurungwe and Sanyati.
Handing over the certificates, Senate president Cde Edna Madzongwe warned the beneficiaries against selling the gold to anyone other than Fidelity Printers.
"Women should form associations and undertake mining and farming on a commercial basis so that they can improve their lives," she said.
The presentation ceremony coincided with the Mashonaland West provincial women’s show which was attended by thousands of women who showcased various products, among them baby sets, carvings and clothes, all made by women.
Speaking at the same function, Zanu-PF Mashonaland West Women’s League chairperson Mrs Junior Muvi hailed Government for controlling the prices of goods.
"We would like to thank Government for reducing prices because we were at the mercy of unscrupulous business people who cared only about making super profits," she said.
Mashonaland West Governor and Resident Minister Cde Nelson Samkange said President Mugabe was the party’s choice in the province for next year’s joint parliamentary and presidential elections.
The show was attended by the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development, Dr Ignatius Chombo; the Minister of Economic Development, Cde Sylvester Nguni; the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cde Rueben Marumahoko; provincial party chairman Cde John Mafa, MPs and senators in the province among others.
Labels: GOLD MINES, MINING, THE HERALD, ZIMBABWE
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30 Zim gold mines face closure
By Kingsley Kaswende in Harare
Thursday July 05, 2007 [04:01]
UP to 30 gold mines in Zimbabwe are faced with imminent closure because they have run out of cyanide, a critical chemical in the production of the mineral, the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe (CMZ) has disclosed. “Already, one or two mines have stopped production. I won’t give you the names but there are one or two others that are about to stop until they are given what they require,” said Doug Verden, the CMZ acting chief executive officer, in an interview.
Verden said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) had not been able to pay out around US $200 million of what it owes the gold mines, making it impossible for them to procure the critical chemical.
“As a system, we lodge our gold with the RBZ after production. The RBZ takes 40 per cent of the foreign currency we earn, through which we are paid in foreign currency. The other 60 per cent should be paid within a specific period of time as foreign currency. In recent times this hasn’t happened. The 60 per cent hasn’t been paid to the mines, for some from as far back as November 2006. The 60 per cent that has not been paid is needed by the mines to purchase cyanide,” he said.
He said the Chamber had been following up on a regular basis with the RBZ and the Ministry of Mines to find a solution.
“It would seem the Reserve Bank does not have enough foreign currency,” he said.
Verden said several gold mines had completely run out of cyanide and most of them had cut down production quite severely. “Unless they are paid some more of their foreign currency, things will be worse, companies will most likely close,” he said. He said gold production had been falling quite dramatically due to that reason.
All the cyanide that the mining companies need has to be imported from the far East. “The companies are not being paid and all cyanide has got to be imported. You can get it locally and pay in local currency but it is hugely expensive. Those who sell it locally have to import it using foreign currency and they sell it to the mines at a higher mark up so that in the end it becomes cheap to sell your cyanide than to produce gold,” Verden said.
Gold production has fallen by about a 40 per cent. Last year, gold mines produced about 13 tonnes of gold, and Verden said they would be lucky to produce eight tonnes this year.
Labels: GOLD MINES, ZIMBABWE
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