HARARE: Zimbabwe Mining and Smelting Company (Zimasco) has lifted the trading ban on chrome ore producers who are mining under its tributes. The development will now see the chrome ore small-scale miners looking for their own buyers. The small-scale miners, under the tribute agreement were not able to sell their chrome ore to any buyer besides Zimasco and ZimAlloys.
Chrome Miners Association committee member Tichafa Zinyemba said they had received a letter from Zimasco stating that the small-scale miners under the tribute arrangement could now sell chrome to any buyer.
“We’ve received a confirmation letter from Zimasco stating the lifting of the trading ban, we can now sell our chrome ore to any buyer,” he said. Apple Bridge Investments chairman Masimba Chandavengerwa also confirmed having received a letter from Zimasco stating the lifting of a trading ban on chrome ore.
“We’ve received communication from Zimasco as Apple Bridge Investments notifying us that we’re now allowed to buy chrome ore from their tributaries,” he said. Apple Bridge Investments is a special purpose vehicle that the government recently set up to buy chrome ore from small-scale chrome producers.
This was done with a view to empower small-scale chrome miners by ensuring that the mineral is bought at international rates. Chandavengerwa said they were now putting in place logistics so that they start buying chrome from the tributaries.
When the government recently lifted the ban on raw chrome exports, the miners under the tribute agreement were bonded by the terms and conditions of the arrangement as they could not sell to buyers of their choice. In the past, small-scale chrome miners petitioned the government to revoke the tribute agreement citing that the arrangement was not favourable to miners.
According to Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation, many small-scale chrome producers were on tributes of either Zimasco or ZimAlloys. ZimAlloys is said to have 10,000 chrome claims while Zimasco own 6,000 and if these are combined they translate to 90 percent of the Great Dyke. Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa last week announced that the government will not issue chrome export permits to Zimasco and ZimAlloys until they release some of the underutilised mining claims they were holding.
