Story Farai Gwaze in South Africa
The country’s mining sector continues to show resilience and drive Zimbabwe’s economic growth despite fluctuating commodity prices on the global market.
Speaking at the ongoing African Mining Conference in South Africa, the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Honourable Winston Chitando commended the mining sector’s continued endurance during the global downturn in commodity prices.
“First of all, it’s important to note that in 2023 and especially 2024, we witnessed low commodity prices right across the entire sector of the mining space, except for gold. Suffice to say despite the low commodity prices, we didn’t have any major shutdown of mines… That in itself shows the major resilience of the Zimbabwean mining space. We managed to maintain our production capacity. So what it means is when the prices start going up, Zimbabwe will reap the benefits of the increase in prices,” he said.
Minister Chitando added that the mining sector will continue to play a key role in making Zimbabwe attain an upper-middle-income society by 2030.
“As we charge towards Vision 2030, which is well on course, as the mining sector we will continue to play a key role in terms of economic development for our country, by increasing the exploration of our minerals to make sure that they get out of the ground, support employment and be value added, so we increase the economic development of our country,” he said.
According to the World Bank, metal and mineral prices fell by 7% in November last year, with commodity prices expected to fall further in 2025 and 2026.
