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Business Writer

Gold deliveries to Fidelity Gold and Refinery (FGR) have totalled 16 tonnes in the first seven months with small-scale miners contributing 10 tonnes as players are targeting at least 40 tonnes of gold output this year, up from 25 tonnes produced last year following the implementation of more efficient mining methods in the sector.

Gold is Zimbabwe’s single largest foreign currency earner while artisanal miners account for more than half the country’s national production.

The sector is supposed to contribute US$4 billion towards the US$12 billion mining milestone by the end of this year.

Money – Image taken from Pixabay

Official figures from FGR, the country’s sole authorised buyer of gold already indicate that in July, 2 674kgs was delivered compared to 2 963kgs delivered in the same period last  year.

Small-scale miners accounted for 1 626kgs and primary producers contributed 1 047kgs.

The official figures show that production by small-scale miners slightly dropped in July from the prior two months. In June, 1 702 kgs was delivered.

Statistics show further that May had the highest gold deliveries this year with 2 875kgs.

In February gold deliveries were somewhat stagnant at 1,895 tonnes before improving to 2,402 tonnes in March and declining to 2,376 tonnes in April.

Although gold production in May improved, the output of the yellow metal for the first five months of the year was marginally lower at 11,4 tonnes compared to 13,1 tonnes in the corresponding period last year.

In the first five months to May this year, small-scale miners delivered seven tonnes of the yellow metal compared to 8,5 tonnes delivered during the same period last year.

According to FGR, output for 2022 reached 35,3 tonnes with small-scale miners accounting for about 60 percent of total production.

In October 2019, the Government launched the US$12 billion mining industry roadmap and the gold sub-sector is expected to contribute US$4 billion.

Government has since then been working on a number of programmes to boost gold output as well as attract new investors to the sector.

There is also a programme to expand operations, revive or open closed mines as well as provide incentives to gold miners.

The large scale producers like Caledonia, Freda Rebecca and Dallaglio Investments are investing in additional capacity, which should drive output towards the 2023 target.