20120710
Xinhua
Small-scale chrome miners in Zimbabwe have not been able to set up a single smelter since government banned raw chrome exports in 2010, an official revealed on Monday.

Government imposed the ban to promote beneficiation of the mineral resource in the country. The move meant that the miners had to acquire smelters.

But a representative of the small to medium chrome miners, Thomas Gono said investors were not forthcoming while banks were not keen to lend money to the miners to help them establish smelters.

"We have the desire to set up smelters but we need substantial amounts of money to set up smelting plants with long life spans. Most of our members have (chrome) resources that are in the periphery and it is very difficult for them to court investors using these resources," Gono told a portfolio committee of parliament on mines and energy.

Since the ban, the miners have stockpiled over 25,000 tons of raw chrome, with Gono saying the miners were reluctant to sell their product (mostly chrome concentrates and fines) to local smelters at lower than production cost.

In any case, the two major smelters in the country do not have technology to process concentrates and fines, and have since stopped buying from small scale miners, the majority of whom produce concentrates and fines.

Local smelters offered around 60 U.S. dollars per ton of lumpy chrome, almost half the price in external markets, Gono said.

He said the miners, meanwhile, continued to push for the lifting of the ban so that they can resume exports.