The Sunday News
Judith Phiri, Sunday News Reporter
GOLD deliveries to Fidelity Printers and Refiners fell by 30 percent in the first 10 months of the year compared to the same period last year, due to reduced production brought about by Covid-19 induced lockdown.
According to statistics from the country’s sole gold marketer, the country recorded only 16 tonnes from January to October compared to 23 tonnes recorded during the same period last year. The yellow metal is the highest forex earner and contributes 38 percent of the country’s total earnings and more than 60 percent to the mining sector. In an interview, FPR general manager Mr Fredrick Kunaka said gold deliveries dropped due to the Covid-19 pandemic effects that affected production.
“From January to October we have received 16 tonnes compared to 23 tonnes the same period last year. The Covid-19 pandemic has had hampering effects on business operations across all sectors of the economy. Our industry has also not been spared,” said Mr Kunaka.
He added that the company was faced with challenges of accessing the foreign currency retention to pay miners and movement of gold to the export market.
“Flights coming in with United States dollars to pay miners were not flying in frequently because of the imposed restrictions resulting in some delays of up to one week. Covid-19 induced restrictions not only affected cash movement but also the movement of gold to the export markets thus worsening the challenges,” he said.
Mr Kunaka said this resulted in delays in the issuance of remittances from the country’s sole gold buyer to miners, whose capacity production had also dropped due to the shortage of exported materials for mining during the lockdown.
It took the intervention of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr John Mandaya to put the matter to rest.
Dr Mangudya had a meeting with the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) where he clarified that the payment impasse would be resolved.
Mr Kunaka added that they were working on making sure that they minimise payment delays as much as possible.
“As FPR, we always endeavour to pay our clients for all deliveries they would have made, it is unfortunate we have had to delay some payments due to circumstances beyond our control and we wish to apologise for the inconvenience caused to our clients.
“Recently these restrictions have been lifted and we are hoping this will improve the inflow of cash into the country,” he said.
FPR has also discontinued the mining and processing input allocation scheme which was introduced in June 2019 as it was not successful.
The organisation has resolved to pay small scale miners in 100 percent United States dollars as from July 2020, thus they could easily access the mining inputs from suppliers.
Mr Kunaka also noted that already the Gold Development Initiative Fund this year has been exhausted.
“The funds availed under the Gold Development Initiative Fund (GDIF) were all taken up. We undertake due diligence in loan disbursements that also entails making necessary follow ups to ensure the money applied for is used for intended purposes and recovered,” said Mr Kunaka.
The $150 million GDIF is administered by (FPR) which is the sole buyer, refiner and exporter of gold in Zimbabwe.
The GDIF was created by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) as part of its initiatives to enhance economic productivity through promotion and development of the gold mining industry in Zimbabwe.
The loan facility is primarily for the acquisition of gold mining plant and equipment in order to enhance gold production by miners.
