Business
Zimbabwe: Gov’t takes over majority stake in foreign-owned mines
South Africa’s Implats, owner of 87 percent of the Zimbabwe producer Zimplats, said a joint technical team of experts from both sides was working out methods of transferring a majority stake worth at least US$500 million.
But Implats chief executive David Brown has said the transfer won’t take place if Zimbabwe doesn’t pay up, adding international legal steps could be taken if Zimplats is forcibly nationalized without payment.
Zimbabwe and South Africa are the world’s largest suppliers of platinum, a corrosion-resistant metal with a wide range of industrial uses that is priced in the same range as gold.
Zimplats employs 8,000 workers in Zimbabwe.
Foreign cash inflows have dwindled in recent months amid uncertainty over the security of possible investments.
Tourism, now the second-biggest hard currency earner after mining since agricultural exports collapsed, has been affected by political and economic uncertainty and security concerns ahead of the elections proposed by Mugabe. Tensions and intimidation have heightened this year, rights groups say.
Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi said Wednesday that Westerners were being discouraged by their governments from visiting Zimbabwe.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
