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months to allow miners to recapitalise their operations.
National chairperson Mr Edzai Kufandirerwa said the federation has written to the Minister of Mines and Mining Development to lift the ban after a stakeholder meeting in Gweru last week.
Government banned the export of chrome ore in April this year in a move aimed at boosting local smelters that process the mineral before it is exported overseas.
However, the miners argue that the ban has rendered thousands jobless.
“After the meeting we resolved to engage the Ministry of Mines to extend chrome exports by at least 36 months and we have since presented a document.
“During this time miners would be able to recapitalise their operations from export proceeds,” said Mr Kufandirerwa.
It has also emerged that local smelters are taking advantage of the ban and purchasing a tonne of chrome concentrate for a paltry US$50.
Exports of chrome ore were selling at between US$120 and US$150 per tonne, a price miners say is viable to capitalise operations.
Mr Kufandirerwa said after recapitalisation, miners would be able to build small smelters for processing.
A miner based in Gweru, Mr Patrick Nyamutsamba, who employs 130 people said all operations had stopped and there is a need for a review, as it requires at least US$5 million to build a smelter.
“It takes almost three years to build this smelter and there is no bank that is able to give such support to miners and that is why we are kindly asking for an extension,” said Mr Nyamutsamba.
He added that local smelters, who were deliberately underpaying miners have worsened the situation.
Government has since indicated that it would soon set up minimum prices for chrome ore amid the concerns that smelters are squeezing out miners.
According to ZMF, Zimbabwe has nine chrome smelters capable of processing up to 1,5 million tonnes of ore per year. Zimbabwe produced about 600 000 tonnes of chrome ore last year, according to the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe.
Some of the large ferrochrome exporters include Zimbabwe Alloys and Zimasco, owned by China’s Sinosteeel.
Last year, Zimasco announced a five-year US$300 million plan to increase its smelting capacity.
The bulk of known chromite resources are found along the Great Dyke and the combination of the chemical and metallurgical grades has a total of 326 261 000 metric tonnes.
This resource only covers explored areas with defined outcrops and Zimbabwe has used 14,75 percent of its total confirmed resource or 1,48 percent of the total inferred resource.
Zimbabwe and South Africa hold about 90 percent of the world’s chromite reserves and resources, according to the US Geological Survey.