MINES minister Walter Chidhakwa has summoned Chinese platinum miner, Global Platinum Resources, over concerns that the company was holding on to claims for speculative purposes.
Chidhakwa said Global Platinum officials are expected into the country next week to update government on their business following its licensing nearly three years ago.
“They are supposed to brief me where they are because the statement I have made is we will not tolerate people who seat on claims,” Chidhakwa told The Source in an interview.
“So they have indicated a desire to come and see me and tell me (where they are), so I’m waiting for them to come and see me and tell me where they are and what they intend to do. Their lawyer is coming in the next week.”
Officials at the platinum miner would not comment.
Global Platinum is a joint venture of Norinco International Cooperation, a state-owned Chinese engineering company and the Zimbabwe government’s mining investment arm, Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) on concessions taken from Impala Platinum.
In June last year, the company indicated that it was ready to start mining in September that year.
Zimbabwe has the second known platinum reserves in the world after South Africa, positioning the capital intensive mining sector as the anchor of the economy.
Mining accounts for 55 percent of Zimbabwe’s export receipts.Advertisement