By 
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr John Panonetsa Mangudya has said the central bank will continue with a tight monetary policy stance to promote macroeconomic stability.
Addressing miners at a Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe (COMZ) event to update the country on the Mining Industry, the Comz report noted that analysis of survey data shows that average capacity utilisation for the mining industry is expected at 84 percent in 2023, compared to 81 percent this year.
Dr Mangudya said,
“We are also putting in place supportive infrastructure or supportive policies to ensure that the economy remains stable so that your businesses continue to do business in a favourable environment.
“We are going to continue with a tight monetary policy stance to ensure that the value of our local currency is maintained.
“It’s too premature for us to soften the policy because we do believe that this economy is about sentiment-driven perception, so we are going to continue with a tight monetary policy stance,” he said.
On the other hand, the requirement for mineral royalties to be paid partly in kind has become law with effect from the beginning of last month, with miners of designated minerals now required to remit half their royalties to the Reserve Bank in the form of refined minerals.
As for other minerals, half of the royalties will be paid in the acceptable currency and the other half in the actual mineral. For diamonds, 5 percent of production will be paid in stones. For gold, 2,5 percent will be bullion; for platinum, 1 percent will be actual metal; and 1 percent will be applied for base metals. For lithium, the royalties would be in the form of a suitable compound since lithium is a highly reactive metal in raw form. The other half of the royalty will continue to be paid in cash.
“We are going to ensure that the full products (minerals) that are specified in the Statutory Instrument 189 of 2022 are taken as reserves. These are going to be the nucleus for the reserves which we are going to take in kind and there is no prejudice to the miner because the 15 percent is coming from the money that was taken by the Government as royalties,” said Governor Dr. Mangudya.
These Royalties are a form of tax payable as a percentage of the gross value or volume of minerals produced and are due to the owner of the mineral rights.
For Zimbabwe, the minerals belong to the State and this has existed since the 1930s, when the mineral rights owned by the British South Africa Company were taken over by the State for modest compensation.
Storage of the actual stones or metals by the RBZ will allow the bank and the Government to build up reserves to support the domestic currency, among other benefits.
Government of Zimbabwe has the option of selling some of these reserves when liquid foreign currency is needed for public obligations while this offers an opportunity to sell the minerals when market prices are at a peak.
Mining industry in Zimbabwe was also undertaking several initiatives to increase local content procurement in line with the NDS1 to bolster employment figures and production across the value chains in all economic sectors.
These initiatives include individual companies adopting a local procurement policy, where 40 percent of the firm’s raw materials and mining consumables are sourced from the domestic market.
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