The ManicaPost
Business Correspondent
Local procurement initiatives have been given a major boost following Buy Zimbabwe, a local content lobby group’s setting up of the first ever Zimbabwe Mining and Suppliers Directory that will furnish information of all local mining companies, suppliers and government departments to ease the means of doing business and improve local synergies within the sector.The data base which will be available online and in print form will also include small scale miners, giving a well detailed picture of all mining sector players in the country.
The inclusion of the small scale miners comes on the backdrop of improved gold deliveries to Fidelity Printers Refinery spurred by the sub sector which has been identified as a critical segment on the local mining landscape.
The miners and suppliers database will be a critical handbook for local procurement officers as it will assist with contact details of local suppliers of mining equipment and the products range available on the domestic market. It has been noted that most mining entities have been procuring the vast of their operational equipment outside the country owing to poor correlation with local suppliers of equipment.
With the extractive sector hauling US$2 billion in export earnings annually, translating to two thirds of total exports, synergising the mining sector will be critical in cubing foreign currency leakages brought about by importation of mining supplies.
The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development says 60 percent of all mining sector costs are consumed by acquisition of supplies and the 2015 Mining Survey Report revealed that just above 70 percent of goods and services in the mining sector are derived outside the country – illustrating how much the country was leaking cash that could help stimulate local supply and services value chains.
Officially launching the Mining and Suppliers Directory at a local hotel in Harare last week, Deputy minister of Mines and Mineral Development Fred Moyo said the directory was a major boost to improving local procurement in the sector which had multiplier effects on other sector of the economy.
“The mining sector support to procurement is a fundamental economic activity that plays a key role in infrastructure building, competitiveness and trade facilitation. “Local procurement creates jobs, enables technology transfer innovations through various multiplier effects and thus builds our economy.
“Further more local procurement creates value for the mining companies as it should lower costs, increase number of reliable potential suppliers and build positive relationships between businesses, communities and Government.
“The Mining and Suppliers directory will therefore facilitate ease of doing business as information on mining companies, suppliers and Government departments becomes more public and easy to get,” said Deputy Minister Moyo.
He said the handbook will also help advertise businesses within the industry and beyond, profile Zimbabwe’s mineral wealth and opportunities whilst also profiling mining operations and their socio-economic development to the economy.
Minister Moyo also highlighted the need to open the sector to more players across a wide spectrum of mining sector value chains for the fulfillment of the growth potential of the sector which he said can reach the size of the entire national budget of US$4 billion.
“We are happy with the performance of the sector comparatively with the current operating environment but soon as we get out of this current economic environment, our US$4 billion budget should be our sector economy. We have a billion tonnes of chrome under the ground but three quarters of that is held by only two companies and all other potential players in the sub-sector have to crowd into that one quarter. We are saying they should cede at least half their stake so that we allow more players to participate in mining activities,” he added.
Government views small scale miners as the hive of the mining sector growth and continues to present mining opportunities and operational support through various support schemes such as the syndication scheme meant to formalise their activities, the US$100 million facility penned with the China Development Bank for acquisition of mining equipment for small-scale miners and the US$20 million gold development initiative facility through RBZ subsidiary, Fidelity Printers and Refiners to support small mining operations in a bid to increase gold production.
Buy Zimbabwe Chairman Mr Munyaradzi Hwengwere said the it was critical to have a database of the small scale miners who have become a solid cog in the mining industry by linking them with various suppliers so that direct dialogue can take place which relate to their unique needs.
“As Buy Zimbabwe we believe our partnership with Zimbabwe Miners Federation will enable us to actually build synergies between mining sectors particularly between small scale mining sectors which has been growing significantly so that we know how many they are,” he said.
This was also echoed by Zimbabwe Miners Federation chief executive officer Mr Wellington Takavarasha who conceded that despite the number of small scale and artisanal miners continuously increasing and due to the high levels of informality it was hard to keep actual figures, the directory will however go a long way in assisting ZMF in coming up with regular publications on the developments in the sector as information and contacts of registered small scale miners will now be easily traced.
“This (directory) is going to be a crucial tool for information of our mining players. We know we have 7 tonnes of gold being produced by small scale miners so we must know who these small scale producers of gold are, know their contacts and other profile information so that it even helps investors who want to take part in the mining operations of our economy,” said Mr Takavarasha.
