Business Reporter

Gold deliveries to Fidelity Printers and Refineries (Fidelity) has increased by nearly 45 percent to 25 287 kilograms from 17 494 kilograms delivered in the comparable period last year.

 A source at Fidelity told this publication that gold delivered to the company increased during the month of November 2021 and he attributed this to increased output at the local gold mines.

“The gold delivered to Fidelity continues on an upward trend during the month of November 2021. The deliveries increased by 126 percent in comparison with the same month in 2020 and by 9.32 percent when compared to October 2021. The gold delivered in November 2021 increased to over three tonnes compared to one and half tonnes delivered during the same period in 2020,” said the source.

The same source added that the aggregated gold delivered to Fidelity for the first 11 months of 2021 increased by 45 percent to over two and half tonnes. The source added that the highest delivery was in January this year when 2547.88 kilograms were delivered to Fidelity. He added that the least gold deliveries to Fidelity was 1270.21 kilograms delivered in August this year.

According to the source, the targeted gold output for 2021 is 27 000 kilograms. To date, 25 287 kilograms had been delivered and the remainder is expected to be delivered before end of year.

The source, however, bemoaned the decrease on the international gold price and said that this might impact negatively on the mining industry. He added that the mining sector was likely to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic that is currently ravaging the world.

The Government is planning to transform the mining sector into a US$12 billion industry by 2023 underpinned by anticipated higher earnings from gold and platinum group of metals