At the same time one
of the indigenous local firms contracted to buy gold on behalf of FPR – Better
Brands Jewelleries – had significantly increased its deliveries to the
authorities. This comes as authorities are grappling with high incidences of
gold leakages which some mining industry players blame on poor capitalisation
of small scale miners and better prices offered by underground networks.
Speaking last week at the Chamber of Mines and Financial
Gazette unveiling of the State of Mining Report, Mangudya said gold deliveries
to FPR had been lower than expected. “There are some sectors where compliance
is low. I have looked at the numbers from the mining sector where gold has
produced 25 tonnes.
“This year gold that has come through the formal channels,
that is to Fidelity Printers, is lower than last year where in the first nine
months we had 18,3 tonnes. This year we have 12,8 tonnes. “Despite the price increase
of 26 percent year on year, gold is at 12,8 tonnes on an average price of US$55
000 that is US$710 million versus the US$795 million received in the same
period in 2019.”
“I am just saying the 12,8 tonnes by the end of September
might leave us at 17-18 tonnes (short) by the end of the year. “So, despite
gold having gone down, in terms of value, other mining products especially
platinum pushes the mining sector upwards,” Mangudya said.
This comes as it emerged last week that despite lower
deliveries to FPR, Better Brands was the biggest and most consistent agents of
the RBZ buying the precious yellow metal from small scale miners across the
country.
Better Brands has been an RBZ agent since 2006 and is
credited with plugging leakages through its aggressive mopping up of gold among
small scale miners. Last week, the firm delivered nearly 40kg of gold – the
same time that authorities busted a suspected gold smuggling ring allegedly
involving Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) boss, Henrietta Rushwaya.
The delivery occurred also at the same time that Better
Brands director Pedzisayi “Scott” Sakupwanya had his photos with vast amounts
of cash and gold leaked on social media platforms.
However, FPR decided not to dwell on the incident but
confirmed that indeed Better Brands was among its biggest gold buying agents.
FPR spokesperson Chelesani Moyo told the Daily News On Sunday that Sakupwanya
was a bona fide gold dealer who had a “squeaky clean record” with them.
“We wish to confirm that Sakupwanya is one of our gold
buying agents allowed to buy gold from small scale miners for disposal to
Fidelity Printers and Refiners,” Moyo said. Sakupwanya yesterday told the Daily
News On Sunday that his company was committed to delivering as much gold as
possible to FPR.
“There are many people who are licensed but doing very
little to support the government by delivering gold to Fidelity Printers.
“Imagine the benefits to the economy and national fiscus if everyone who is
licensed would deliver at least 20kg gold to Fidelity Printers every month?
“But there are many licenced buyers out there who are licensed for the sake of it. Very little is delivered to the government and the rest goes where God knows,” Sakupwanya said. This comes as authorities have reported losing tonnes of gold in illicit trades.
Finance minister Mthuli Ncube told a breakfast meeting
organised by our sister paper, the Daily News last year that the country had
lost between 30 and 34 tonnes of gold to smuggling.
“When we spoke to our colleagues in South Africa at the
Rand Refinery in Cape Town, we saw a jewellery shop. They said that’s all your
gold from Zimbabwe. “A total of between 30 and 34 tonnes are smuggled into
South Africa. We will have a discussion with RBZ governor John Mangudya in terms
of output and retention percentages to enable gold miners to sell their gold
through proper channels
“But the deliveries have been going down at Fidelity
Printers because of leakages in the sector, which we are finding a way to plug
so that output is accounted for in the formal sector,” Ncube said then. Daily
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