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Government has started reviewing the Draft Minerals Development Policy which will inform the process for the crafting of a fresh Mines and Minerals Development Act

Golden Sibanda Senior Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT has started reviewing the Draft Minerals Development Policy after completion of the consultancy work on the new policy framework. The new mining policy will inform the process for the crafting of a fresh Mines and Minerals Development Act, which addresses the aspirations of Government and locals while also taking note of the interest of global mining investors.

Mines and Mining Development Deputy Minister Fred Moyo told The Herald Business yesterday that his ministry was still working on the draft presented by consultant Dr Paul Jordan. It had been scheduled for completion by end of last year.

“We are still working on the draft. He (consultant) has submitted the draft, its out with the various directors in the department.
“Of course, it is running a little late, but we are pushing it,” he said.

Among the key issues the policy will address are minerals governance, regulatory framework, equitable and competitive fiscal regime, minerals marketing, indigenisation, competing land rights and use options among others.

Deputy Minister Moyo would not divulge the final contents of the new policy, a product of extensive internal consultations, but said it would be aligned to the Government’s mining focused strategy of running the economy.

He pointed out that while the new mineral policy framework would address the expectations of the Government, it would also pay heed to the fact that mining is global business and would therefore be aligned to investors’ interests.

According to excerpts from an earlier draft policy document “the effective and efficient management of Zimbabwe’s natural resources is a critical element of the Government’s economic development programme and entail “the crafting of an exploration, registration and extraction mining policy, to form the basis for new comprehensive mining sector legislation.

Further, it would “ensure full exploitation of mineral resources, as the government] is reviewing the framework for mining rights, pricing of minerals and surrender requirements.

The current Mines and Minerals Act will also be amended, in line with the policy to facilitate the review of surface rentals, discourage hoarding and speculating in Exclusive Prospecting Orders.

The minerals policy document seeks to provide a framework for a minerals regime for the sustainable management of the country’s mineral resources and to guide interventions by government institutions as well as other stakeholders.

It sets out the expectations for the sector to contribute not only to the revitalisation of Zimbabwe’s economy but more broadly to the development of its peoples, including future generations.

Government contends, mining in itself is not sustainable, as it depletes finite national assets.
However, mineral extraction can indirectly become sustainable in so far as it catalyses sustainable economic activity in other sectors, through maximising the economic “linkages” while the resource is still extant.

Strategies to develop these complex and diverse linkages are central to this policy.