By Business Reporter – Tuesday 9 June 2020
HARARE (Mining Index) – THE Business Economic Empowerment Forum (BEEF) believes the new gold trading framework announced by Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FR) on Tuesday 26 May 2020 needs to be supported by ensuring Zimbabwe does not export all the raw gold, but establishes a gold vault that can used as a store of value, security and collateral when borrowing money towards resuscitating the economy.
While part of the gold can be exported to earn the country foreign currency, some of our gold must be stored as a value preserve for the nation.
BEEF in 2018 called on government and the private sector to come together and establish a gold vault as part of efforts to play a part towards economic recovery.
Instead of imposing a flat fee of US$45 per gram of gold, as a forum, we feel FPR should offer prices in line with global market.
It is time our country re-joins the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) to ensure Zimbabwe benefits from refining and export of gold directly to the international market.
Establishment of the gold vault is aimed at empowering local business people to store their wealth in gold.
The picture above depicts how Africa is losing minerals to other continents. For example, London has a substantial amount of gold stored yet the British do not produce gold in their country. With an estimated 13 million unexploited gold reserves, Zimbabwe has no gold reserves of its own. The Bank of England, JP Morgan and HSBC are the three largest gold vaults in London. Britain’s central bank is the second largest in the world after the New York Federal Reserve. With vaults spread over two floors, the Bank of England holds three-quarters of the gold in London stored as standard bars weighing 12.4 kg. The British central bank boasts of over 400 000 gold bars in its vaults, with a small amount owned by the Bank itself. The Bank also stores gold for the UK government, other central banks around the world, and the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). HSBC’s subterranean London vault stores over 1000 tonnes of gold. ENDS// www.miningindex.co.zw
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