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: 2010-09-22 Time: 11:00:02 Posted By: News Poster
By Tawanda Musarurwa
Harare – Zimbabwe’s gold industry is operating at around 40 percent of installed capacity, and the country requires US$4 billion to re-capacitate its energy sector to boost output of the precious mineral, London-based researcher GFMS Ltd has said.
The depressed state of the mining industry has been attributed to erratic electricity supplies as well as minimal investment inflows to the sector. Production at Zimbabwe’s gold mines has been constrained by the lamentably poor power supply situation and insufficient working and investment capital. Industry has been hit by random outages.
“Current capacity of 40 percent is still some way short of potential represented by an installed capacity of 20 tons,” read the GFMS report.
In 1999, Zimbabwe produced around 29 metric tons of gold.
The country’s power crisis has had a special effect on gold production, for instance, Zimbabwe’s largest gold mine, the South African-based Metallon Corporation Ltd earlier informed that its gold output for the first half had tumbled by 70 percent, a performance it attributed to constant power outages. The country is presently facing a huge power deficit of over 50 percent, as the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority is only producing 900 megawatts against a national demand of 2000MW and an installed power generation capacity of 2100MW.
This has also had a dampening effect on Foreign Direct Investment inflows because as the situation stands, any new investment in respect of infrastructure can only further impel energy demand.
GFMS contends that the country requires around US$4 billion for energy expansion programmes including refurbishment of the two main power stations (Kariba and Hwange) the establishment of two additional plants, in order to meet national energy demand.
There has however, been some developments aimed at easing the power shortages from both the public and the private sector. Zambian firm, Copperbelt Energy Corporation recently indicated that it is considering investing in Zimbabwe energy.
Speaking at last week’s Zimbabwe Mining Indaba, Copperbelt Energy managing director Mr Michael Tarney said that his company might soon facilitate the development of Zesa infrastructure. “We are at the early stages of looking into moving into Zimbabwe. We also have an interest in reviving Zesa’s defunct thermal power stations in Munyati and Harare, as well as helping out at Hwange,” he said.
RioZim Ltd has indicated that it will spend US$3 billion on a power plant near its Sengwa Coal Mine, after the Government awarded the company a licence. Zimbabwe Platinum Holdings this year completed construction of a new US$25 million 330 KVA power substation in Selous that will be handed over to Zesa in the upcoming financial year.
Despite the prevalence of some debilitating macro-economic fundamentals, mainly the deficient energy supplies and market illiquidity, Zimbabwe has experienced ramped up gold output in 2010 to date.
According to Chamber of Mines indications, Zimbabwe’s gold output in the first six months of this year stood at 4.03 tons and is anticipated to achieve 8 047 tons by the close of the year, which is a major improvement from last year figures.
In 2009 the country sold 4.09 tonnes for the entire year, and 3 tons in 2008. Meanwhile, GFMS Ltd has announced that it expects gold prices to continue rising, perhaps hitting a record high of US$1 300 per ounce before the end of the year on the back of enhanced demand.
With the potential of a major decline in the United States dollar, gold – and precious metals in general – are being perceived more favourably as a safe haven for investors, which has resulted in the steady upturn in international gold prices.
Original Source: 
Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Original date published: 22 September 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201009220275.html?viewall=1