Hi Norma
Here's some news WRT to your S.A. positions
(COMTEX) Mining Charter Causes Panic ( Financial Gazette/All Africa Global Media )
Harare, Apr 16, 2004 (Financial Gazette/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) --
A DRAFT document compelling mining companies to sell as much as 49 percent of
their assets to black businesses has caused a lot of consternation in the
industry.
Analysts say they fear the charter could lead to investor disenchantment.
Conflicting statements regarding the draft charter have emerged, with the
Chamber of Mines saying last week that the draft had been put on ice, a
suggestion Mines Minister Amos Midzi strongly denied.
A Chamber of Mines official, David Matyanga, said the document had been
withdrawn to allow the minister to carry out internal consultations.
Matyanga also said the ministry had cancelled road shows that had been organised
to try to garner support for the document, which analysts say has already dealt
a crippling blow to Zimbabwe's already battered image as a credible investment
destination.
In a statement, Chamber of Mines president Ian Saunders said Section 28 of the
draft legislation had caused concern among domestic and international investors.
Jittery players in the mining industry told The Financial Gazette they were
worried about Zimbabwe's legislative process.
For example, the recently completed agricultural revolution, has provided little
comfort for the average investor.
The charter, among other issues, would compel mining companies to sell 49
percent of their assets within three years.
Public mining companies, the charter says, would sell 25 percent of their shares
within the same period.
"Section 28, which deals with indigenisation of the industry, has caused
considerable consternation among both current mine owners and potential new
investors both locally and abroad," Saunders said.
It has been alleged that the government, which has over the years been trying to
win over Asian investors, was trying to bring in Chinese and Indonesians through
the empowerment charter.
Well-placed sources told this newspaper the long-term plan was to shift mineral
control from traditional investors in the sector, mainly Europeans and
Americans, to the Chinese and Indonesians.
The sources noted that the Asians could fit the empowerment criterion, described
in the draft document as any persons who were historically disadvantaged prior
to independence on April18 1980.
Midzi described the allegations as "rubbish", saying the proposed changes were
in line with the government's stated desire to empower the previously
disadvantaged indigenous population.
He said the document was there to stay, adding that it had not been withdrawn.
"The document has not been withdrawn but a draft is not conclusive," said Midzi.
"It is the right of this government to create conducive conditions for
empowerment. Our policy to empower the people remains across all sectors of the
economy," Midzi said.
Analysts say they fear the government's over-ambitious drive to extrapolate
perceived "gains" of the chaotic land reform programme across the whole spectrum
of the economy might usher in a similarly disruptive revolution in the mining
sector.
Foreign mining companies with projects in the country include South Africa's
Impala Platinum Mines (Implats), which has an 82 percent stake in Zimbabwe
Platinum Mines, Anglo American Platinum (Angloplat), which is engaged in a US$90
million project in the Midlands province, Australia's Aquarius Platinum, which
has interests in Mimosa Mines, and Ashanti Goldfields, which owns Freda Rebecca
Gold Mines.
Zimbabwe represents the bulk of Implats and Angloplat's expansion plans, with
both firms banking on their Zimbabwean operations to ramp up their output.
by Felix Njini
Copyright Financial Gazette. Distributed by All Africa Global
Media(AllAfrica.com)
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KEYWORD: Mining
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