EXPORTS of all ores and under-processed minerals, basically anything that can be mined or quarried, have been banned with immediate effect unless special exemptions are obtained.
The gazetting of the Base Minerals Export Control (Unbeneficiated Base Mineral Ores) Order, 2023, contained in Statutory Instrument 5 of 2023, ensures that there is now nothing that can be mined or quarried that can be exported until it has reached set-down levels of processing.
The order was made by Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando using powers conferred upon him by the Base Minerals Export Control Act.
The order defines “ore” as all forms of minerals or mineral aggregates which are of economic value.
Under the order and the Mines and Minerals Act, minerals are effectively anything of value that can be mined or quarried, and base minerals are everything except the precious metals of gold, silver and the platinum group, diamonds and other precious stones, and mineral oils and gases.
However, these exceptions already come under their own legislation, and exports of these are either tightly controlled in State monopolies or must be processed to a set level before being exported.
For example, only the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) can buy or export gold, only the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) can buy and export diamonds, while platinum miners come under their own rules which lay down the minimum processing required before export.
The only company actively seeking mineral oil and gas, the Muzarabani drilling, has a detailed agreement with the Government.
Base minerals, the subject of the new order, mean everything else not covered by other laws and include coal and coke as well as the non-precious metals commonly regarded as base metals, plus anything else that can be mined or quarried and is declared a base mineral.
The minister can allow export of ore, but only on two grounds. Samples can be sent for assay, if it can be shown such assaying is not possible in Zimbabwe, and export permission can be granted if the miner can “produce compelling reason to the minister showing that no such ore is capable of being beneficiated to any extent within Zimbabwe”.
The regulations do not specify the degree of beneficiation required before exports escape the ban. But the Ministry policy up to now has been to insist on the maximum that is viable at any particular moment.
For example, chrome can be exported as ingots of ferrochrome, an alloy with iron, and platinum producers are able to export once they have produced concentrates, although as volumes mined increase to levels whererefining becomes viable they will be expected to build a refinery.
A similar order banning exports of lithium ore made late last year has been lifted, simply because lithium is a base metal and so is covered by the new ban. There was therefore no need to treat it separately from everything else in the base metal basket.
Other potential loopholes were closed as well in the Base Metals Export Control Act.
“An order shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith in any other enactment or any trade or customs agreement to which the State is a party”.
And that principal Act lays down the penalties if you are caught exporting ores. These are a level 9 fine or twice the value of the base mineral ores you are sneaking out of the country, whichever is greater, or up to two years jail, or both.
The objectives of the bans under all Acts of any ore are designed to encourage the maximum possible processing within Zimbabwe, adding value, with this processing added value in many cases worth a lot more than the ore being processed.
This maximises the value of the export, creates the processing jobs in Zimbabwe, and builds up the industrial investment and skills base.
The policy is not new. It stretches right back into colonial times. The only times ore exports have been permitted is if the amount exported of a mineral is too small to make processing economically viable, as was the position with lithium until recently, or the processing sector is in a temporary collapse, as happened with chrome and the temporary ore export permits now all cancelled. – The Herald
