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Business Reporter
CBZ Bank has dismissed as false reports that the financial institution has been awarded a gold-buying licence by Government.

Some sections of the media had claimed that CBZ was now buying gold produced in the country and that it had reportedly set a target of 1 million tonnes. Fidelity Printers and Refiners is the country’s exclusive buyer of the yellow metal in Zimbabwe after being licensed in 2008 as part if measures to curb smuggling of the bullion.

“We refer to the online publications purporting that CBZ Bank Limited is a licenced gold buyer and exporter of gold. We advice that the bank does not hold a gold buying licence neither does it export gold,” said CBZ in a statement.

“The bank has on board a number of mining companies of which Freda Rebecca Gold Mine is one of them.”

The financial institution said it was thus offering banking services to its clients in line with its normal course of business and regulatory requirements.

“We are supportive of Government and the private sector efforts to grow the economy and our group entities will continue to offer traditional and innovative financial products and services to all our customers.”

Meanwhile, on May 26, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe announced that it had increased the gold retention threshold to 70 percent in foreign currency for sale proceeds from the previous 55 percent in a move aimed at boosting production in the sector. Under the new gold trading framework, large gold producers now receive 30 percent of their gold sale proceeds to Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR) in local currency while 70 percent of the sale proceeds is being paid into the producer’s Nostro account. The local currency gold sale proceeds is paid at the ruling exchange rate into the producer’s ZW$ account.

For small-scale miners, gold buying agents and artisanal producers are being paid in cash at a flat price of US$45 per gramme of fine gold.

Under the new framework, large gold buying agents must have a mining operation producing a minimum of 50 kilogrammes fine gold per month to qualify for FPR’s agency permit. Last year, Zimbabwe produced 33,2 tonnes of the yellow metal having set a target of 40 tonnes.

The projected target was unattainable due to a number of factors that hogged the mining industry chief among them, intermittent power supplies.