Lumina Gold secures ‘slightly better’ Ecuador terms with Cangrejos mining permit, analyst says
The contract includes $25 million in advance royalty payments to the government split into four stages.
Zimbabwe is drafting legislation that will compel small-scale gold miners to register their operations as the southern African nation seeks to curb gold smuggling according to John Mangudya, central bank governor.
“Government is in the process of putting a statutory instrument for all the gold producers, just like what we do under tobacco where there is a grower’s number,” Mangudya told lawmakers in the capital, Harare at a virtual briefing on Monday. “We need to ensure that they do not take the gold out of the country.”
The government keeps a tally of tobacco growers registered with the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board to regulate the industry.
Zimbabwe’s gold deliveries for the five months through May plunged 24% to 7,030 kilograms from a year earlier, according to Fidelity Printers and Refiners, the country’s sole gold buyer. Authorities blame smuggling for the decrease in gold output.
More than $1.5-billion of gold is illegally shipped out of Zimbabwe every year, depriving the cash-strapped economy of crucial foreign exchange revenues, according to research organization International Crisis Group. The country seeks to produce 30 tonnes this year after extracting 19.1 tonnes in 2020.
(By Ray Ndlovu)
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