Zimbabwe platinum miners owed millions in unpaid export earnings
Zimbabwe's platinum miners are owed millions of dollars in unpaid exports income under the government's foreign currency retention rules, the mining chamber has said, hurting operations in a sector battling to recover from a price collapse.
The southern African country requires all exporters to retain only 70% of their proceeds in foreign currency, with the balance being converted to local currency.
The world's third largest producer of platinum group metals after neighbour South Africa and Russia, says it needs the foreign currency to fund vital imports and repay foreign loans.
Platinum producers in Zimbabwe, who include Valterra Platinum, Impala Platinum's Zimplats and Mimosa, a joint venture between Impala and Sibanye Stillwater, exported PGM mattes and concentrates worth $690-million in the first half of this year, government data shows.
However, the government has not been paying the miners the local currency equivalent of their export earnings since January, an official at the mining chamber told Reuters.
Deputy finance minister Kuda Mnangagwa confirmed that the government had fallen behind on paying the miners.
"There were issues of cash flow constraints, particularly in the first quarter of the year when our revenue collections are at their lowest," Mnangagwa told Reuters on Tuesday.
He added that the government was talking to platinum miners to ensure "that these delays don't burden their operations".
Platinum group metals, used to make catalytic converters that curb vehicle emissions, are Zimbabwe's second most valuable mineral export, behind gold.
Zimbabwe exported gold worth $1.8-billion during the first half of 2025, up from $870-million during the same period last year, thanks to record high bullion prices.
Gold producers have also complained about Zimbabwe's foreign currency retention rule, which they say eats into their income when part of their export proceeds are converted into an overvalued local currency.
Comments
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
We supply customers with practical affordable solutions for their testing needs. Our products include benchtop, portable, in-line process control...
VISIT SHOWROOM
The SAIMM started as a learned society in 1894 after the invention of the cyanide process that saved the South African gold mining industry of the...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
