WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-11-10 Time: 18:00:08 Posted By: Gairk
Zimbabwe's largest gold mining firm, owned by South African mogul Mzi Khumalo, has shut down all its mines in the country due to viability problems triggered by a US20-million debt the company is owed by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Khumalo's Metallon Gold closed its five mines last week as it emerged that the political stalemate between President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had stalled major development projects. The Southern African Development Community has called a full summit in Pretoria today to break the impasse between Mugabe and Tsvangirai over sharing of cabinet posts in an all-inclusive government in Zimbabwe.
Metallon Gold Zimbabwe chief executive officer Collen Gura confirmed the closure of Red Wing Mine, Shamva Gold Mine, How Mine, Arcturus Mine and Mazowe Mine, partly attributing the shutdown to unpaid debts by the central bank and the general harsh economic environment. “Metallon has no mine which is producing gold at all,” said Gura. “It is not that we have decided to close but we have been closed. We had closed three mines first to share the costs on two mines, but we could not cope,” said Gura. “We need between US2-million and US3-million, and no less than Z500-trillion, per month, for instance, to get Shamva and How Mine running again,” he said. Gura said gold output had plunged to an annual 32,000 ounces per year from 150,000 ounces before the crisis escalated this year.
Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines officials, speaking anonymously, told Business Times that Metallon Gold, while weighed down by rising production costs and shortages of spares, electricity and foreign currency, has been crippled by being unable to access the US18.3-million the firm is owed by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe for gold delivered to the central bank in accordance with the law. Gura did not disclose the debt Metallon Gold is owed by the bank, but said closure of the five mines has put at least 3500 workers on the streets. The company accounted for 14% of the jobs in the gold mining sector. Gura said the hyperinflationary environment made it unviable for the company to borrow money from banks, with interest rates hovering around 9,500%.
Zimbabwe's official inflation is 231 million percent, but independent economists put it at eight billion percent. “We are on a roller coaster . .. we've been burning. Metallon International has been funding us but they are now stretched and the business is threatened,” said Gura. Metallon had planned to spend US46-million in Zimbabwe before listing on the London Stock Exchange, but the project has been shelved pending an improvement in the investment climate as well as payment by the central bank for the gold deliveries. The Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines said last week gold mines were on the verge of collapse as they were owed a combined US30-million by the central bank, which the opposition accuses of printing money to bankroll Mugabe's Zanu PF party and the government.
From The Sunday Times (SA), 9 November 2008
Source: ZWNEWS – 10 November 2008
Source: http://www.zwnews.com/