Mali arrests, Niger site seizure rattle Western miners
Short term, analysts said they expected juntas to continue squeezing the companies already in the region.
Zimbabwe is planning to hold 26% of new mining projects on a free carry basis, and will also negotiate with existing operators to acquire a similar stake.
“We need to move to a level where we reach 26% shareholding in most of the big projects,” Zimbabwe’s Secretary for Mines Pfungwa Kunaka told Bloomberg in an interview. “A lot of these things would take negotiations with the investors that are on the ground.”
Kunaka declined to say how the government would finance acquiring stakes in established mining projects.
Resource nationalism is strengthening across Africa as countries seek a greater share of the profits from their commodities, while addressing historical imbalances in the wealth flows from mining. Zimbabwe mines a number of metals, such as gold, platinum, lithium and chrome, with operators including Zimplats Holdings Ltd., Anglo American Platinum Ltd.’s Unki mine and RioZim Ltd.
“Obviously when you have decisions which were made some years back and decisions were made on the basis of a certain framework, you cannot just willy-nilly go and change that,” Kunaka said. “It takes negotiations.”
Kunaka did not disclose the minimum value of mining assets in which the government would want a shareholding, saying that details will be released later. The policy would be introduced from next year, he said.
Zimbabwe has a 15% free carry shareholding in platinum miner, Karo Resources, according to its website.
(By Godfrey Marawanyika)
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