State-owned gold buyer, Fidelity Gold Refinery (FGR), has projected gold deliveries to reach 40 tonnes in 2023 mainly due to new gold mining projects coming into production.

FGR general manager Peter Magaramombe told the Independent that the company received 35 tonnes of gold in 2022, an increase of 18.9% from the same period in 2021. He said:

We have projected the gold deliveries in 2023 to reach 40 000 kg, an increase of 4 700 kg or 13.4% on 2022 gold deliveries.

Magaramombe said additional gold buying centres will be opened in active regions. He added:

FGR will continue to provide a competitive pricing framework benchmarked to the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) prices at a discount of 5%.

He also said the FGR will continue to offer United States dollar (USD) spot cash payments for gold lodgements.

This will be done to ensure that small-scale gold producers are not financially constrained.

Magaramombe said in 2021, gold miners delivered 29 664kg, increasing the deliveries in 2022 by 5 616kg with a total of 35 280kg delivered during the year. He said:

The highest gold receipts were experienced during the third quarter of 2022 (9 680kg) and the fourth quarter (9 618kg).

This and the general surge in gold receipts could be attributed to several factors.

The accessibility of working areas (shafts) by small-scale miners as the water table lowers during the third and fourth quarters.

The incidence of maturing projects for large-scale mines having the effect of new additional gold receipts by FGR.

© Copyright The Zimbabwean. All rights reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).