Zimbabwean, but decided against it, after local authorities refused to exempt the company from a law which requires miners to sell the bulk of their bullion to a unit of the country’s central bank.
Now, the corporation appears to be interested in acquiring gold assets in the southern African nation once again. B2Gold’s chief executive Clive Johnson revealed on Wednesday that the company has held discussions with the officials and other interested parties in Zimbabwe “to see if they are ready for us to come in”. “There is really a strong case and we are making that case in Zimbabwe,” he said during an interview. “We are looking at it as intriguing potential with some advanced projects as well as exploration potential.”
The news was reaffirmed by Zimbabwean Mines Minister Winston Chitando who said the Vancouver-based company has expressed its interest in investing in Zimbabwe’s gold assets, and is holding talks with domestic privately owned gold mining companies.
The African nation is currently grappling with a host of economic challenges and is in desperate need for fresh investment in its key mining sector. The prevailing economic conditions have forced miners to sell all their metal to Fidelity Printers and Refiners, a central bank unit which pays them partly in dollars and partly in rapidly depreciating local currency.
The situation is rather disappointing for the gold mining industry, which continues to report a growth in output, with a 12 per cent increase projected for this year, bringing the total volume of the precious metal to 28 tons. By 2023, this figure is expected to reach 100 tons by 2023, according to the government.
“It’s an interesting area for us geologically and that’s what we looking for in the world,” Johnson noted. “We will probably enter the first part of next year a bit more confident to talk more about what we see there as the potential.”
