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Mr Nkomo

Business Correspondent
The Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation is planning to set up a micro-finance unit for small-scale miners as a way of promoting self-reliance and doing away with the dependency syndrome on Government bailouts. The unit is expected to address the challenges faced by small- scale miners such as lack of credit facilities to buy equipment.
Small-scale miners contributed close to half of gold production last year. ZMF president Mr Trynos Nkomo said the miners’ representative body was devising ways of creating avenues through which miners can easily access capital.

“ZMF is in advanced stages of negotiating the establishment of a micro-finance unit with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
“The proposal is now at the central bank and we hope that all goes well, as our miners are in dire need of such a facility,” said Mr Nkomo.

Through the facility, small- scale miners will be able to borrow money to fund and boost their business operations, a thing which has been just a dream for years.
“In an ideal world, we would prefer a mining bank, just like agriculture has the Agribank. This micro-finance unit is a means towards realising that dream (mining bank),” added Mr Nkomo.

Meanwhile, according to the African Development Bank, month-on-month total gold deliveries declined by 0,54 percent from 967,45kg in January 2013 to 962,2kg in February 2013.

Deliveries by small-scale producers during the same period grew by 4,9 percent to 150,42kg, while deliveries by primary producers declined by 1,49 percent to 811,8kg.

On a year-on-year basis, total gold deliveries grew by 3,69 percent to 962,22kg in February 2013.
Gold has been identified by the Government of Zimbabwe as one of the key drivers of the nation’s economy.