Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed miner, RioZim, has once again involuntarily suspended operations at three of its gold mines due to foreign currency shortages.
Rio closed Cam and Motor Mine in Kadoma, Renco Mine in Masvingo and Dalny Mine in Chegutu in October last year citing a shortage of foreign currency needed to import critical consumables and spare parts. Operations at the three mines resumed after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in November made commitments to support all gold producers’ operations by allowing them to maintain 55 percent of their export earnings in foreign currency nostro accounts. Said RioZim:
Notwithstanding these commitments, the board of RioZim Limited regrets to advise that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe through its wholly-owned subsidiary Fidelity Printers and Refiners (Private) Limited has been failing to meet these commitments.
“As of date, the company has experienced significant and persistent delays in payment of its foreign currency allocation for deliveries made to Fidelity Printers and Refiners since December 2018 and this has severely affected the viability of the company’s operations and consequently, the company has been recently forced once again, to involuntarily suspend production across all three of its gold mines pending full payment foreign exchange proceeds.
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