Gift Mashoko

This years’ Zimbabwe Annual Mining Conference to be held in Victoria Falls from 29 May to 1 June 2019 will be dedicated on symposiums namely gold and platinum, says Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines President, Mr Batirai Manhando.

Mr Manhando noted that the conference will be running under the banner “Realising vision 2030 through mineral resource led growth.”

Speaking to journalists at a Press Conference today in Harare, Mr Manhando said that President Emmerson Mnangagwa would be the Guest of honour at the event while Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Winston Chitando and Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube are expected to present at the conference.

“This years’ event comes in a special way as we will have dedicated symposiums which will intensively discuss gold and platinum industry and growth strategies. We are realising vision 2030 through mineral resource led growth.

“The theme (Realising vision 2030 through mineral resource led growth) and programme has been designed to align the private sector with Government’s vision 2030. Wherein the Government expects the mining sector to take a lead in achieving vision 2030 aspirations, through maximising the contribution of the sector to the socio-economic development of the country,” he said.

Responding to a question from the media on how the mining industry is coping with the load shedding and fuel crisis, Manhando highlighted that the mining industry is prioritised when it comes to the allocation of electricity. He added that the current load shedding would not affect the industry save for a few companies which he, however, said should not affect the overall mining industries.

In terms of fuel, he said that since mining industry was one of the biggest exporters, they have easy access to fuel.

Responding to a question on how they felt about the recent announcement by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) on the payment arrangement for fuel through the interbank foreign exchange market and drawing down of US$500million offshore line of credit, Manhando said that the recent monetary development was a step to liberalise market since the market forces determine the exchange rate.

He said threshold should be viewed as different from the market forces because they deal with threshold and thresholds differ from mine to mine.