The Zimbabwe government has repossessed more than 80 mining concessions from companies that have failed to utilise their claims amid allegations that most of the title holders were using their assets for speculative purposes, Mines Minister Winston Chitando said on Wednesday.
Chitando told the state-run The Chronicle daily that the concessions were repossessed under the government’s “use-it or lose-it” policy.
“The ‘use-it or lose-it’ policy has been implemented. We will have formal announcements in due course,” Chitando said, warning that the repossessions would continue targeting those not utilising their mining claims.
He revealed that the repossessed concessions were in the gold, coal and chrome sub-sectors.
The repossessed mining concessions are expected to be allocated to other companies willing to immediately work on them.
“Under the Zimbabwe is open for business mantra, those repossessed assets will be reallocated to potential investors who really want them for productive purpose,” the minister said.
The Zimbabwean authorities announced last year that it was also considering re-sizing some of the concessions with huge resource base and inordinate life spans and allocate them to potential investors.
JN/APA