Gold mines hit trouble

Several gold mines in Zimbabwe face closure due to the small amount of foreign currency earnings they are allowed to retain, South Africa’s ‘Business Day’ quoted a mining executive as saying on Tuesday.
Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe CEO, David Murangari, said a number a gold mines were operating at a loss and that production of gold - the country’s second highest foreign currency earner - dropped six mt from 1999 to 2000.

“Quite a number of mines are operating at a loss and the situation is not good,” he said. “Gold producers are being prejudiced because they are being allowed to keep only 20 percent of their foreign currency (earnings),” said Murangari. He added that the government was expected to allow gold producers to retain at least 40 percent of their earnings in foreign currency. Producers still had to import critical inputs in foreign currency, which they were forced to source from the parallel market at almost double the official exchange rate because of a severe shortage of foreign exchange in Zimbabwe, the newspaper said.