Govt Repeals ‘Prohibitive’ Mining Fees Hike

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Govt Repeals ‘Prohibitive’ Mining Fees Hike
Govt Repeals ‘Prohibitive’ Mining Fees Hike

Africa-PressZimbabwe. The government has repealed mining and registration fees that it announced last week following a huge outcry from small-scale miners.

Through Statutory Instrument (SI) 44 Of 2021 gazetted last week, the Minister of Mines and Mining Development hiked the fees by over 800 per cent and pegged them in United States dollars.

This prompted the Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) to engage Mines Minister Winston Chitando, who is also the patron of the organisation, to review the increases.

The Government said the repealing of the rates has been made in terms of section 403 of the Mines and Minerals Act (Chapter 21:05). It said:

The Minister of Mines and Mining Development…made the following regulations: — these regulations may be cited as the Mining (General) (Amendment) Regulations, 2021 (No. 25).

Mining (General) (Amendment) Regulations, 2021 (No 24), published in Statutory Instrument 44 of 2021, are repealed.

The rates are now pegged in local currency.

Under the fees structure announced last week, which has now been repealed, an application for revocation of forfeiture was pegged at US$ 1 000 while an application for an EPO (Non-refundable) had ben hiked to US$2 000.

Now, the application for revocation of forfeiture is now pegged at ZWL$5000, while an application for an Exclusive Prospecting Order (EPO) is now at ZWL$10 000 (non-refundable).

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