FIDELITY Printers and Refiners (FPR) has so far disbursed about $30 million of the $40m loan facility meant to enhance operations of small-scale gold producers in the country, an official has said.
BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
In a presentation done on his behalf at the small-scale miners’ conference in Bulawayo recently, FPR general manager, Fradreck Kunaka said the $40m facility had benefited about 179 miners.
“We are anticipating that by the end of this year, contributions from small-scale miners will surpass that of the primary producers,” he said.
“We are confident that the figures will surpass (primary producers), particularly by the efforts that we have done to finance some of our small-scale gold producers.”
The central bank early this year came up with a $40m package in a bid to capacitate small-scale gold producers to access inputs and key equipment.
FPR offers a maximum loan of $15 000 per applicant payable over three years.
“We anticipate that the second half of this year will see a significant contribution from those projects that are funded by the gold development initiative,” Kunaka said.
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“We have disbursed, to date, roughly $30 million of the $40 million and a significant number of small-scale miners have benefited from this.
“We are also in the process of branding all our buying gold agents at Fidelity to be more visible where they are buying gold from and to get to know their location as well as where they are.”
There are about 25 000 registered small-scale miners in Zimbabwe and 500 000 are involved in artisanal and small-scale mining, according to the Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation. About 153 000 of these are women and children.
The sector last year produced 9,7 tonnes of gold.
