Staff Reporter
Government has availed a USD10 million gold facility to the mining sector, a move which would ensure that the nation`s Vision 2030 remains on course targeting a knowledge driven and industrialized upper middle income society by 2030.
Speaking at the launch of the gold facility yesterday, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube said that the fund would go a long way in transforming the mining sector.
“To this end, the setting up of a USD$5 million Gold Service Centre Revolving Facility (GSCF) and USD$5 million Artisanal Gold Small Scale Miners Fund (AGSMF), will go a long way in capacitating the small-scale miners through the construction of Gold Service Centres as well as providing them with the requisite tools of trade for their day-to-day operations,” said Minister Ncube.
Minister Ncube said that the implementing agency for the USD$5 million Gold Service Centre Revolving Facility (GSCF) would be the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and that it would be responsible for the construction of the Gold Service Centres. He further announced that the disbursement for the GSCF would be done through the BancABC Bank
He indicated that the other USD5 million for AGSMF would be accessed through the Mining Loan Fund (MLF) which would be administered by the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development.
Minister Ncube advised eligible Artisanal Small-Scale Miners to submit their applications with the requisite information to the Mining Loan Fund adding that the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development would provide the detailed list of the required information and documents to the AGSM.
Meanwhile, Minister Ncube enunciated that the Gold Centres would have a positive impact to the economy including; Gold mobilization, plugging leakages, employment creation, improved mining and safety standards, safety health and environment issues, foreign exchange generation and formalization of the AGSM.
Zimbabwe was allocated US$958 million by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of a General Allocation of US$650 billion that was released globally to all IMF member countries in 2022.It is from these resources that Treasury is targeting strategic sectors such as mining expansion and value addition.
