Zimbabwe is going through yet another precedent economic volatility, the last being the hyperinflation in 2007-2008 which peaked at 500 billion percent having been fueled by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s quasi-fiscal activities. The economy of Zimbabwe has shrunk and virtually collapsed with its citizens, mostly the youth, currently unemployed. I will focus my attention more on the mining sector in Zimbabwe looking at how there has been a drastic fall in the mining industry.
Zimbabwe’s mining sector has been beset by a deepening crisis. In the 1990s Zimbabwe was poised to become a significant force in African mining. At one time, Shabanie Mine in Zvishavane and Gaths’ Mine in Mashava were the world’s sixth largest asbestos-producing entities, with annual output exceeding 140 000 tonnes. Mining houses like the Anglo American and Rio Tinto, responded favourably. At some time, investments in the gold sector lifted Zimbabwe into third place among African gold producers and into the world top ten. Zisco Steels was said to be one of the largest and only integrated iron and steel plant in Southern Africa . The Platinum mineralization of the Great Dyke constitutes a major world PGM resource, estimated at 4.4 billion tonnes, positioning Zimbabwe resource after South Africa, and primary platinum production.
Zimbabwe can then be said to have been a key player in gold and ferrochrome production, among other minerals, but foreign investment into the once-thriving sector has since crashed. What then happened to the mining industry in Zimbabwe?
rukutitus 