Unfriendly Mining Policies Fueling Gold Smuggling - Report

Mining Zimbabwe has said gold smuggling is mainly due to unfriendly mining policies and the government should address that as a matter of urgency.

The Mining magazine cited the 55% forex retention policy introduced in February by the RBZ as the major cause for smuggling:

Since the RBZ decided on 55% forex retention in February this year, various gold miners have smuggled their produce to lucrative markets such as South Africa. The average price of gold is US$41 000 per kg, but with the 55% forex retention threshold, a miner will get around US$22 500 with the 45% being paid in Zimbabwean dollars

This is coming a few short hours after Finance Minister said the country lost between 30 and 34 tonnes of gold through smuggling. 

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