Zimbabwe threatens to seize platinum concessions from Eurasian resources subsidiaries

Zimbabwe's mining minister has informed Todal Mining Ltd., a joint venture controlled by Eurasian Resources Group, that its platinum mining concession may be confiscated because no progress has been made on development.

Minister Winston Chitando (Winston Chitando) said in a letter to Todal on May 28 that the concessions of Bokai and Kinonde could be taken over under the "use / loss principle", which allows the state to recover idle mining rights. The Ministry of Mining confirmed the authenticity of the document.

"I note with concern that some changes have taken place in the work plan over the past few years to bring the project into production," Chitando said in the letter.

Zimbabwe, which has the world's third-largest reserves of platinum group metals, has been trying to develop its mining potential, and investors from Russia, Cyprus, Nigeria and Kazakhstan have yet to put the project into production.

More than a decade ago, Todal's assets went from Anglo American Platinum Ltd. Seized from the company, the company operated a mine in Zimbabwe and handed it over to the Central African Mining Exploration Company. The company was acquired by Eurasia Natural Resources, which later became the Eurasian Resources Group. At that time, Central African Mining provided a loan of 100 million US dollars to the Zimbabwean government.

'We will give asset holders the opportunity to respond through the Mining Commission, 'said Zimbabwe's deputy mining minister, Polite Kambamura. If they make any progress on this that we are not aware of, they will submit these comments and make a final decision after all due process has been completed.

In 2013, the government said production of the mine would begin that year. In 2008, Camec said it might cost $200m to build a mine that produces 150000 ounces of platinum a year.