HomeOld_PostsChrome mining revival a boon to our economy

Chrome mining revival a boon to our economy

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JUST as it was during the Rhodesian era, chrome, that mineral which has revolutionised the steel industry, will revive Zimbabwe’s stuttering economy if proposed plans by Government to revamp the sector are anything to go by.
When Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa announced a raft of measures to ramp up production last week, echoes of how Ian Smith’s Rhodesia survived UN sanctions courtesy of chrome rang loud.
When Smith announced his infamous Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) on November 11 1965, the response by the world was to slap him and his anti-people Government with sanctions, but the US by-passed the sanctions by continuing to do business with Rhodesia through buying chrome.
Chrome is an important base metal used mainly in the stainless steel industry.
Zimbabwe has the second largest chrome reserves in the world, with an estimated one billion tonnes unexploited.
This is what the US wanted to steal from the country.
Today they still want the resource, especially on the back of the announcement recently by Donald John Trump that the US is set to embark on a massive infrastructure rehabilitation and development programme.
Also, there is a huge demand from China, Singapore and Indonesia for the product.
It is from this background that Minister Chidhakwa believes Zimbabwe can satisfy the huge demand for chrome across the globe.
The strategy is what Zimbabweans have been clamouring for.
“In order to broaden indigenisation in the chrome sector and empowering Zimbabwean citizens and create more employment, the Government directed that 50 percent of the claims held by ZIMASCO and ZIMALLOYS be released and made available to other players in chrome (mining),” Minister Chidhakwa said last week.
Under the proposed plan, locals will have 10 000 hectares of chrome claims.
As a result of this plan, the country is targeting more than double chrome production to 550 000 tonnes in 2017.
The country produced 284 943 tonnes of chrome ore last year.
High carbon ferrochrome production was also expected to increase to 300 000 tonnes from 149 000 tonnes mined last year.
High carbon ferrochrome is derived from smelted chrome ore.
Last year, the country earned US$31 million from the export of 284 943 tonnes of raw chrome compared to US$115 million realised through the export of 149 000 tonnes of high carbon ferrochrome.
This is what the US and the rest of the Western world hate to hear.
In January 1966 when then British Prime Minister Harold Wilson promised African states at the Commonwealth Summit in Lagos that sanctions slapped against Smith would bring down the minority Rhodesian regime in ‘weeks, not months’, he was lying.
But in October 1965, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) had warned Wilson about the possibility of UDI and urged him to use all means necessary, including military intervention. 
After UDI was proclaimed, the UN called on member-states to sever economic ties with Rhodesia, recommending sanctions on petroleum products and military hardware. 
In December 1966, these measures became mandatory, to include a ban on the purchase of Rhodesian tobacco, chrome, copper, asbestos, sugar, meat and hides.
On November 20 1965, the Security Council passed Resolution 217 condemning UDI and called upon states to neither recognise the Smith regime nor to entertain any diplomatic ties or other relations with it.
On December 16 1966, the Security Council passed Resolution 232 and for the first time in UN history, imposed mandatory economic sanctions on Rhodesia.
Under this resolution, the Council prohibited importation of the following Rhodesian commodities: asbestos, iron-ore, chrome, pig-iron, sugar, tobacco, copper, meat and meat products as well as hides, skins and leather.
But the US, through its officials, claimed it had paid for approximately 150 000 tonnes of chrome after passage of the UN resolution, effectively creating avenues for the smuggling of the mineral while continuing doing business with Smith.
Even when their media were pontificating on the sanctions mantra, the reality was that they were in fact selling the world a dummy.
They wanted the chrome.
They still want it today.
While Rhodesia used chrome to survive the UN sanctions, we should make use of the mineral to economically empower our people and significantly develop our economy.
The most important thing will be to re-introduce the ban on raw chrome exports so that we sell processed products and create more jobs for our people.
Let those with ears listen.

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