Mines Ministry Needs $8 Million To Lure Investors - Minister

The Mines Ministry is demanding $8 million from the 2022 budget to woo investors into the mining sector and ensure that closed mines scattered around the country are reopened.

This was said on Sunday by Mines minister Winston Chitando in a report which he presented in Victoria Falls during the 2022 pre-budget seminar in response to issues raised by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines. He said:

The ministry will enhance its efforts towards the resuscitation of closed mines. A total of $8 172 604 is required to support promotional activities, engagement with investors and relevant stakeholders towards the reopening of the closed mines.

More effort is also being made through Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) whereby they are engaging various investors to reopen closed mines. The ministry intends to transform the Lupane office into a full-fledged provincial office. Currently, Bulawayo Metropolitan hosts most of the staff and operations of the province.

Chitando said during public hearings by the committee on the 2022 national budget, members of the public demanded that government must prioritise the reopening of closed mines throughout the country to enhance employment creation and improve mining revenue going into the national purse.

He said Zimbabwe had a lot of large-scale mines that were shut down due to the collapse of the economy leaving thousands of employees jobless.

He added that it was also recommended that a lithium smelting and processing plant should be set up to produce products rather than export raw minerals.

Zimbabwe intends to achieve a US$12 billion mining industry by 2023 with a view to attaining an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.

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