Gold deliveries to Fidelity Gold Refinery (FGR) fell 20% to 6.194 in the first quarter of 2023 from the same period in 2022 when deliveries were 7.694 tonnes.
This has been attributable to heavy rains which affected mining.
Speaking to Business Times, FGR general manager Peter Magaramombe said despite the plunge in gold deliveries in the first quarter of this year, there were some improvements in March. He said:
Gold output has declined for the first quarter ended March 31 2023 to 6.194 tonnes from 7.694 tonnes during the comparable period last year due to heavy rains during the first two months of the year.
As you can see, gold deliveries increased to 2.4 tonnes in March 2023 from 1.89 tonnes in February this year.
Though deliveries are still in the negative compared to the same period, there were positive steps in the right direction in March.
He said small-scale gold miners, who contributed over 60% of the total gold production, were especially affected by rains.
Large-scale producers delivered 2.762 tonnes while small-scale miners delivered 3.431 tonnes to FGR during the first quarter of 2023.
Gold is Zimbabwe’s largest export, and in 2020, the country sold US$2.14 billion worth of gold, ranking it 35th among the world’s gold exporters.
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