Reports say the Russian deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, Mikhail Bogdanov “sealed” a platinum-for-arms deal with Zimbabwe when he visited the southern African country some few months ago.
Russian daily business newspaper Kommersant reported mid this year that Russian Technologies had been holding negotiations with Zimbabwe over the deal after securing Harare’s support during a visit last April.
“Russian Technologies has already secured preliminary support from Zimbabwe’s official representatives during its visit to the country in April,” a source in the Russian Presidential administration told Kommersant at the time.
Zimbabwe had been looking for alternative sources for military hardware after its largely British - equipped army was hit by sanctions imposed by the European Union over allegations of rights abuses and electoral fraud.
To cover this gap, Russian Technologies, according to reports was expected to supply military helicopters to Zimbabwe in a swap deal to buy the world's second largest platinum deposit.
However, the Zimbabwe Independent verified with Russian diplomats in Harare that the military helicopters might be old rotorcraft that had been taken for repairs in Russia.
“The helicopters in question are old and they had been taken to Russia for repairs. That’s probably what they are referring to,” explained one diplomat.
Some reports claimed that a joint venture (JV) between the Zimbabwe government and the Russian Centre for Business Cooperation with Foreign Countries, known as Ruschrome Mining, had been given a mining licence for the development of the platinum project in Darwendale.
It was this project, they said, that Russian Technologies wanted to obtain the right to mine platinum.
The state-owned Herald newspaper, reported in July that Ruschrome Mining was set to be the country’s newest entry in platinum mining after it had indicated that it was keen to set up a pilot platinum openpit mine at Darwendale.
The other platinum mines in Zimbabwe were Zimplats, Mimosa and Unki Platinum.
The deposit in Darwendale Valley was said to be the second largest deposit of platinum in the world.
It also contained palladium, gold, rhodium, nickel and copper.
The potential of the deposit was 43-45 million ounces of platinum, or 1.3-1.4 thousand tonnes.
Ruschrome received the license for the exploration and development of the deposit for 25 years.
All preparations were completed in January and the company received an opportunity to start the development of the deposit.
The total volume of investments in the project makes up $300 million, while an the estimated production volume was 2 million tonnes of ore a year, according to Business-TASS.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Bogdanov said during his trip to Harare that since political and diplomatic ties were strong between the two countries, focus should now be on enhancing economic cooperation.
“We have very strong support for Zimbabwe and we respect its sovereignty. That is why we continue to pledge to support it on the international front. We are here to exchange views on the developments in the geo-political landscape and we assure you that you have our support,” he said.
On the other hand Zimbabwe’s Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said Harare appreciated the unconditional support it was getting from Russia and promised that the country was open to investment from Russian companies.
“We do appreciate that you have supported us through thick and thin, but we are saying there is need to enhance our cooperation and ensure that we cooperate on the economic front,” he said.
“Relations have been very good even before independence and as such we are saying they can be further strengthened through economic ties.”
Russia had also asked Zimbabwe to conclude an intergovernmental agreement about the mutual protection of investments.
This, reports said, would give Russian companies an opportunity to develop one of the world's largest deposits of platinum in the world.
However, Global Witness senior campaigner Nick Donovan said if reports of the planned platinum-for-arms deal were true, then it may be another attempt at securing off-budget financing for the Zimbabwe military.
“It also shows that Zimbabwe’s people are not benefiting from the mineral-rich country’s resources,” Donovan was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Reports say that the “arms in exchange for goods" schemes used to be practiced by the then USSR.
Peru, for example, paid fishing quotas to the Soviet Union, Algeria - hydrocarbons, Nigeria - cocoa.
However, some experts say the helicopters in exchange for the right to develop the platinum deposit - may not work for Russia due to the instability of the political regime in Zimbabwe.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
