By Business Reporter – Thursday 10 September 2020
LOCAL – HARARE (Mining Index) – THE Zimbabwe Miners Federation has acquired a gold buying permit from the Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR).
ZMF chief executive officer (CEO) Wellington Takavarasha announced the new developments this morning.
Wellington Takavarasha – ZMF CEO
“ZMF has embarked on a gold buying exercise in a bid to mop up gold from the artisanal and small scale miners countrywide on behalf of FPR,”
“ZMF is now an accredited agent. Our agents will try to reach out even to the most remote areas. The pricing set up is also in line with the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA),” said Takavarasha.
In June this year, Fidelity revealed that over 20 gold buying agents were licensed with gold buying permits, but refused to reveal the list of names of companies and individuals citing confidentiality.
According to Fidelity, the proposed criteria for issuance of a gold buying permit include,
- Police clearance for individual buyers and for their company directors/agents,
- Propose under the current license / propose during an interview how much gold the prospective agent is capable of buying per month,
- For companies, company profile showing directors names and physical addresses,
- Passport size photo for the principal license holder and company directors,
- Current tax clearance for companies,
After obtaining the above requirements, the prospective client is then interviewed by the National Gold Mobilisation Taskforce technical team, which then recommends and instructs FPR to issue a permit.
The licensing of ZMF as a gold buying agent follows the licensing of Freda Rebecca Gold Mine, a subsidiary of Landela Investments which sparked debated in June this year after the gold mine was issued with a gold buying permit to buy gold direct from the ASM sector.
In 2014 Government cancelled all private gold buying licences and directed artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM) to sell their gold through Fidelity after noting some permit holders were abusing the facility. In December 2018, FPR issued 21 gold buying licences to the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF). ENDS// www.miningindex.co.zw
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