By Harry Taruva and Delicious Mathuthu
Zimbabwe’s gold production is up by almost 500kgs in the Month of May compared to April 2023, clocking the highest output so far in the first five months of the year.
This comes as a positive move as the country targets to surpass last year’s record 35 tonne output, having set the target at 40tonnes.
April 2023 saw production of 2.3 tonnes of gold compared to May’s 2.8 tonnes, an increase of 498.94kgs, the latest Fidelity Gold Refinery delivery statistics reveal.
Despite the upward move in the total output for the month, the country’s monthly gold production in the small scale sector is trailing that of 2022, with hopes that the May 2023 surge will build up through the month of June since the rain season is over.
The large scale miners deliveries are above last year’s monthly productions besides the month of February and March.
Zimbabwe Miners Federation president, Henrietta Rushwaya, said reduced deliveries of gold to Fidelity, especially by small scale miners, is due to incessant rains experienced in the first quarter of the year as they dont have adequate equipment to get rid of water in their mines.
“Each time the country receives more rains compared to the previous season, the mines become inaccessible and very difficult to work in.
“Unlike our large-scale counterparts, they have the equipment to de-water the shafts.
“Beginning of next month (June) we are expecting to see gold deliveries in the small-scale mining improving,” Rushwaya said.
This year, gold production slumped by 1.7 tonnes in the first five months compared to last year.
By May 2022, Zimbabwe had produced 13.1 tonnes against this year’s 11.4 tonnes.
In January, Zimbabwe produced almost 1.9 tonnes of gold compared to almost 2.8 tonnes in 2022, with large scale miners (LSM) contributing 0.934 tonnes while small scale miners (SSM) contributed 0.961 on the month this year.
February saw LSM producing 0.7 tonnes while SSM produced
1.1 with total monthly production for the month in 2023 being 1.9 tonnes compared to 2.2 tonnes last year.
LSM delivered 0.8 tonnes in March 2023 while SSM 1.5 tonnes with a total of 2.4 tonnes compared to 2.5 in the same month last year.
In April, total gold production was 2.3 tonnes compared to 2.4 last year, with LSM contributing 0.9 tonnes while SSM 1.4 tonnes.
May saw a significant improvement with LSM crossing the one tonne mark for the first time in 2023, producing 1.069 tonnes.
SSM almost clocked two tonnes, producing 1.805 tonnes in the Month of May, the highest month on month production so far in 2023.
SSM are the largest contributers to Fidelity, with government and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe conducting different schemes and mechanisms to support efficient production of the yellow metal among artisanal and the general small scale mining sector.
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