1. The government has allocated fresh diamond mining claims to Anjin Investments in Chiadzwa, in Manicaland province, four years after the company was evicted from the mineral-rich area alongside other miners on allegations of under-declaring proceeds, according to the Zimbabwe Independent.
Anjin, which resumed operations in December after the authorities parceled out the new claims, is owned by Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Company Limited of China and Matt Bronze, an investment vehicle controlled by the Zimbabwean military, according to the weekly newspaper.
.2. Troubled Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed coal mining entity, Hwange Colliery Company Limited (HCCL) recorded a reduced net loss for the first quarter to March 2020 compared to the same period last year.
Net loss for the period amounted to $64 million down 65 percent from a loss of $181 million prior year comparative, according to The Herald. The sharp decline in trading loss comes at a time when the coal miner continues its quest towards revival having been placed under reconstruction.3.
3. Platinum prices have risen to a two-month high in May, recovering from a 17-year low in mid-March, but the platinum-group metals (PGM) markets are likely to remain under pressure because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prices for 99.95pc min platinum steadily increased to $830/troy ounces (toz) on 18th May, rising from a 17-year low of $621/toz on 19 March, according to assessments from UK specialty chemical producer Johnson Matthey (JM).
Platinum prices were last below March 2020 figures on 6 May 2003, at $608/toz, JM data showed.
Prices for 99.9pc rhodium sky-rocketed to $13,800/toz on 12 March and plunged to $5,500/toz on 24 March. Prices recovered after another volatile April to reach $7,400/toz, JM data show.
Palladium prices for 99.95pc min grade also jumped to multi-year highs of $2,805/toz in late February, before dropping to a six-month low of $1,612/toz in late March and reaching $2,060/toz , JM data show.
Temporary mine shutdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus in countries including South Africa and the consequent disruptions to PGM-containing scrap resulted in tightening supplies, which pushed prices initially higher.
But a sharp slowdown in the automotive, chemical, oil refining and glass manufacturing sectors because of distancing measures and the operation of only essential services hit PGM demand. Source www.argusmedia.com.
4. Listed diversified mining concern, RioZim has recorded a 41 percent decline in gold production in the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 from its local operations on the back of erratic power supplies.
In a trading update for the period under review, RioZim said that power supply continued to be erratic during the quarter, which negatively impacted volumes across the company’s operations adding the power supply situation improved towards the end of the quarter. Source: The Chronicle 5.
5. Zimbabwe’s gold deliveries fell 31 % to 1.46 tonnes in April 2020 from 2.12 tonnes in April 2019 due to bottlenecks in imports caused by a global lockdown as governments moved to combat the spread of coronavirus.
This is the third month running that gold deliveries have been on a downward spiral after the yellow metal has been on the surge from October last year to January this year.
Miners are reported to be failing to get useful consumables from China while experts say gold mining especially (small scale) was greatly affected by lockdown regulations as the need to observe social distancing. Source: Business Times
