Zimbabwe's government has started work on a new mineral development policy aimed at determining ways in which locals can leverage on mining titles to raise capital for exploration and new mine development, All Africa reported.



Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe said Addressing the 71st Annual General Meeting of the Chamber of Mines, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe said that the new policy should also articulate the symbiosis between large and small-scale mining bodies, and would have to recognize the differing mineral depositions and formations as some lend themselves to small-scale mining.



The mining industry make up 50% of Zimbabwe's foreign exchange inflows and contributes 16% to its Gross Domestic Product.



"I am informed the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and the Chamber of Mines are working closely to come up with a new mineral development policy.



"The new policy must clearly spell out how locals can leverage their mining titles to raise capital for exploration and new mine development," Mugabe said.



He said other minerals, such as platinum, did not lend themselves to exploitation by small-scale miners due to the "requirement of capital intensity".



President Mugabe said that since only small-scale miners could profitably mine some of the small deposits, the government is required to ensure this happen in an organized way: "Even the small deposits must be worked in a professional manner which does not harm the environment."



The new mining policy would also clearly spell out the strategy for beneficiation: "Value addition to our minerals should be viewed within the context of an overall integrated national industrialization strategy and not in isolation.



"It must consider the scale of operations necessary for viability... but this has to take account of the minimum scale of operations for long-term sustainability."



Commenting on the same issue, Chamber of Mines president Victor Gapare said the new mineral policy would look at an array of minerals in the country, and come up with a suitable development policy for each of them.



"The policy will look at the major minerals we are blessed with and come up with a development policy for each.



"We will look at beneficiation in the context of the overall industrialization policy of the country bearing in mind that in most cases the value addition process is a very different business from mining requiring a different set of skills and investment strategy," he said.