Zimbabwe starts demanding mining royalties in refined metal

The Zimbabwe government has already started demanding mining royalties in diamonds, gold and platinum instead of cash as it seeks to grow its mineral reserves.
"Starting this October, the government now requires that part of these royalties come as actual refined mining product," President Emmerson Mnangagwa wrote in a column in The Sunday Mail.
"We cannot, as the present government, and as the current generation, run and manage finite resources profligately, without any regard for generations yet and sure to come!" 
Bloomberg had recently quoted finance secretary George Guvamatanga as saying in a letter sent to the Ministry of Mines that the Treasury was concerned that the country does not have reserves of the minerals, which "serve as a source of trust in a country given that they carry no credit or counterparty risks".
Deputy mines minister Polite Kambambura also said last week that they were consulting the mining companies.
"The whole idea by the Ministry of Finance is that they want to store the value of our royalty," he said.
It was not clear whether the mining companies were in agreement with the move as media inquiries went unanswered.
Zimbabwe has the world’s third-largest reserves of platinum.
Platinum in the country is currently being produced by Impala Platinum and Anglo American Platinum, while diamonds are produced by Anjin, RZM Murowa and Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company.
Gold mining companies include Caledonia, Rio Zim, Freda Rebecca and Metallon Corporation.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, in Zimbabwe, Rough&Polished