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160 Chapter 5 Mining 5.1 The First Decade of Independence, 1980–1990 The years 1980 to 1990 could be viewed as a two-phase period, the first from 1980 to 1985, when the policies in place were a carry-over from those implemented by the pre-independence government. This period was characterized by declining volumes of most of the minerals produced. This was followed by the years from 1985 to 1990, when policy amendments to reverse declining production volumes were undertaken, with some positive outcomes. Investor interest in mineral exploration, which had been affected by the war, started fairly early in 1980 with companies such as BP Coal Zimbabwe, inter alia, taking up ground for mineral exploration. The Zimbabwe Geological Survey played a critical role in providing technical papers, bulletins, maps and data on the country’s geology which interested investors in mineral exploration. Between 1980 and 1990 the country attracted interest from many countries, resulting in government-to-government co-operation projects aimed at revealing the country’s mineral potential. These include regional mapping and the generation of bulletins with such organizations as BGRM of France, the British Geological Survey, BGR of Germany, JICA (the Japanese International Co-operation Agency) and others. With aid from Germany, the Geological Survey established the National Remote Sensing Facility that provided additional tools for mineral exploration and landuse planning. In addition, the Canadian International Development Agency funded a number of projects, including the airborne aeromagnetic survey. As a result of these and other initiatives, private-sector investment increased as the number of active Exclusive Prospecting Orders (EPOs) increased from 53 in 1980 to 59 in 1990, with 54 new applications having been received in 1990. These exploration activities resulted in some significant discoveries of mineral deposits and useful findings that included the Royal Family resource (gold) discovered in 1983 and becoming operational in 1984, and the Freda Rebecca resource (gold) discovered in 1985 with the mine opening in 1988. The feasibility study on the Hartley Platinum Mine by Delta Gold was conducted in 1988, the Sengwa tarred road as part of efforts to develop the Sengwa coal deposit was built, and test work on the Cam and Motor dump, which was geared to produce 650kg of gold per year, were conducted among other investments. Government entered negotiations with Mobil Oil Corporation for hydrocarbon exploration in the Zambezi Valley in 1988 with the signing of an agreement in 1989; exploration Mining 161 work for hydrocarbon deposits started in 1990. Although the exercise did not find any oil, results pointed to the possibilities of a gas resource. There was need to sink a pilot well to confirm the existence of the gas, but Mobil Oil was not in a position to finance this exercise and the project was abandoned. 5.1.1 Foreign-currency shortages The years 1980 to 1990 were characterized by severe shortages of foreign currency. Mining imports were acquired through permits obtained on application to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. For the mining sector, government established the Mining Continuation Reserve (MCR) and the Mining Projects Fund (MPF). The MCR was used to import inputs meant to keep operations going, while the MPF was meant for capital projects to grow the production base. By 1983, allocations for the industry under these schemes were very low, impacting adversely on the availability of mining inputs. Shortages of mining inputs, combined with low revenues generated from exports, created production challenges. By 1984 a huge backlog of mining inputs had accumulated. With limited investment having been made before independence, the shortage of foreign currency to import spares badly affected the utilization levels of the aged equipment and machinery. In 1985, allocations of Z$34.776 million (US$21.189 million) were made against bids of Z$74.934 million (US$45.658 million). Government negotiated a loan of£70 million from two British banks to augment the allocations made under the MCR and MPF.1 This facility was available to exporters only under the Export Promotion Programme. Mining was allocated £35 million; the first tranche of Z$23.67 million (US$14.422 million) was made in September as an addition to the MCR and MPF. In 1987, government made allocations of Z$32.707 million (US$19.666 million) to the MCR and Z$15.724million (US$9.455 million) to the MPF. Demand for foreign currency for both recurrent and capital items was Z$90 million (US$54.116 million) annually...

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