Zimbabwe exported close to US$1 billion worth of minerals in the five months to May, Mines and Mineral Development Minister Obert Mpofu said yesterday.

In an interview with Herald Business, Minister Mpofu said the performance of the mining sector since January affirmed projections by Finance Minister Tendai Biti that mining would grow by 40 percent this year.

“The mining industry has exported almost US$1 billion worth of minerals in the last five months. That has been confirmed by the Ministry of Finance,” he said.

He said mainly gold and other precious minerals, notably those in the platinum group of metals, drove the increase in the value of mineral exports.

The estimated value of mineral exports since January, however, excludes potential foreign exchange inflows from diamond exports which remain banned over concerns of leakages.

Zimbabwe produces diamonds in Murowa in the southern part of the country, River Ranch in Beitbridge and Chiadzwa-Marange in Manicaland.

Since early last year, the value of mineral exports doubled when compared to the past two years when production suffered from macro-economic instability.

The sterling performance by the mining industry could be part of the reason why Minister Biti has reverted to earlier projections that the economy would grow by 7 percent this year.

Minister Biti had revised his economic growth forecasts to 4,8 percent on concerns that a worsening balance of payments position, unsustainable civil service salary bill and lack of investment capital would conspire to choke economic growth.

He, however, made an about-turn last week on renewed confidence that capital investment and donor support would top US$1 billion by the end of the year.

The mining sector is expected to leverage economic growth this year riding on increased investment and favourable macro-economic policies, although optimum production potential is still constrained by shortage of capital.

There has been a lot of interest in mining since last year as demonstrated by the huge turnout for the inaugural Mining Indaba that was held in Harare late last year.

With rising interest in mining following progress to iron out concerns that had been lingering on the perceived effect of indigenisation and economic empowerment on the sector, a second Mining Indaba would be held in Harare in September.

Minister Mpofu confirmed this saying Utho Capital, organisers of the inaugural Mining Indaba, were preparing for the forthcoming event, which he said would be held annually.

He said there is growing interest in mining coming mainly from foreign investors.

Mining is now of central importance to the economy, accounting for more than 50 percent of the national foreign exchange generation capacity while contributing about 16 percent to Gross Domestic Product.

(Source)