Zimbabwe presses S. African platinum miner to cooperate in land takeover deal
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E-mail Xinhua, May 23, 2013
Zimbabwe on Wednesday pressed Zimplats, the country's largest platinum miner, to cooperate with the government's plan to acquire 28,000 hectares of its idle claims.
The government recently announced plans to acquire the land from the mine, owned by South Africa's Impala Platinum, so that it can allocate it to other investors.
The government argues that Zimplats was holding on to the land for speculative purposes because "judging from the pace Zimplats was mining it would take 400 years to complete extraction of the mineral deposits."
The mining company has since lodged an objection against the government's intention to acquire the land and may have to claim compensation should its appeal fail.
However, Mines Minister Obert Mpofu said the government was not going to pay for that land as the company acquired the claims for free.
"We are engaging Zimplats on the issue of excess land they have and we appeal for cooperation," Mpofu said while addressing participants at a consultative meeting on the draft mineral policy.
"It is land that belongs to the people of Zimbabwe. It is land that can not be paid through taxation of our people. The land was taken away from us for free and we will not compromise," he added.
Zimbabwe has the world's second-largest platinum reserves after South Africa.
Implats is the second-biggest platinum producer in the world, after Anglo American Platinum, which owns the Unki platinum mine in Zimbabwe.
Mpofu said speculative holding of mineral claims was rife in the country and that this was one pertinent issue that would be addressed by the new Minerals Development Act to be crafted in the near future.
The ministry has since come up with a minerals policy that will guide crafting of the Minerals Development Act.
The ministry is currently holding nationwide consultations on the policy.
Mpofu said Zimbabwe's Mines and Minerals Act crafted in 1963 had become archaic, colonial and that "it was selflessly crafted to harbor interests of colonial masters".
He said the new Act would promote sustainable development of the mining sector through strengthening of public-private partnerships.
The draft mineral policy proposes greater involvement of the state in ownership, production and marketing of the country's vast mineral resources.
It vests ownership of all mineral resources in the presidency while all minerals would be sold through the state except for gold and platinum that will be marketed through an authorized dealer.
The state will also restrict production of minerals deemed strategic and will auction concession for all known mineral deposits. Endi
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