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Martin Kadzere Senior Business Reporter
GOLD deliveries to Fidelity Printers and Refiners rose 20 percent in January to 1111,62 kilogrammes from 926,79kg in the same period last year, official statistics show.

Large scale producers delivered 808,58kg compared to 784,28kg in January 2014, according to data from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. Deliveries from small scale miners more than doubled to 303,04kg from 142,51kg.

Through various Government initiatives, gold production by small scale miners has been rising, registering 51,1 percent growth from 2,6 tonnes in 2012 to 3,9 tonnes in 2014.

However, gold deliveries from large scale producers declined by 8 percent from 10,86 tonnes in 2012 to about 9,96 tonnes in 2014. It is now just over a year after Fidelity, an arm of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe resumed its sole gold buying role, a function it had ceased in 2008 following the liberalisation of the gold sector.

During the period under review, the bulk of the metal was delivered by Mwana Africa’s local unit, Freda Rebecca at 116,14kg, Metallon Corporation’s How Mine at 131,43kg, Caledonia’s Blanket Mine at 118,02kg and Rio Zim’s Renco Mine at 67,10kg.

Last year, the country marginally missed gold output after deliveries reached 13,9 tonnes in 12 months to December against a target of 14,5 tonnes.