El Salvador president proposes bill to overturn metals mining ban
In 2017, El Salvador became the first country in the world to ban forms of metals mining.
Zimbabwe has asked gold miners across the country to ramp up output to support the ZiG currency launched last month, according to Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando.
“This new currency is anchored on gold production, we have to determine ways to increase production,” Chitando said Monday in a meeting with miners in the capital, Harare.
Zimbabwe has been accumulating gold reserves at the central bank’s vaults to back the ZiG, short for Zimbabwe Gold. The ZiG is backed by 2.5 tons of gold and $100 million. It’s the nation’s sixth attempt to have a functioning local currency in 15 years.
Since late 2022 miners have been ordered to pay a part of their royalties to the state partly in commodity and cash, to help increase reserves.
To help boost production, the government will encourage artisanal and small-scale miners to produce more gold with medium- and large-scale miners, Chitando said. “At this stage, production from medium- to large-scale miners for the first quarter was higher from same period last year,” said Chitando.
The southern African nation — which is endowed with vast mineral resources including platinum, lithium and diamonds — targets gold production this year of 40 tons up from 30.1 tons last year.
(By Godfrey Marawanyika)
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