Rungano Dzikira

Government has been urged to take advantage of the surge in international gold prices to improve and maximise on local gold production, a situation which could see the country improve its gold export earnings.

International gold prices are reported to have surged on the international market last Friday following President Trump’s decision to order an airstrike that killed Iranian military leader, General Qassem Soleimani. This act is believed to have then triggered uncertainties on the market as perceived geopolitical tensions are believed to be imminent within the region, hence the rise.

Commenting on the surge in gold prices and its impact on the local market, mining expert, Richard Mvududu said that gold prices were likely to continue to experience an upward momentum as volatility in the capital markets rises.

“Government should therefore take a hint from this surge and try to maximise on gold production as high output will certainly lead to increased exports earnings especially given such market forces,” he said.

“Although Government has been seized with addressing challenges in gold production through gold mobilisation workshops across the country’s eight mining provinces, through the Gold Mobilisation National Task-Force as part of efforts to curb gold leakages, capital injection and retooling of artisanal miners and establishment of gold centres to provide technical and financial assistance to Artisanal Small Scale Miners, more still needs to be done.”

According to Goldman Sachs Group, the yellow metal offers a more effective hedge with traders flocking to safe-haven assets such as gold and government bonds.

The spot price is up 2.3% to US 1583.13 per ounce, the highest since April 2013. Future gold price gained by 2.5% to US 1590.90 an ounce as at January 6.