Published: 17 January 2014

Zimbabwe's deadline for the world's biggest platinum producers to submit plans for the construction of a refinery expired yesterday as it confirms its decision to ban raw exports of the metal by year end, according to a government document.

Secretary for Mines and Mining Development Francis Gudyanga "extended an invitation" to companies including the local units of Anglo American Platinum Ltd. (AMS) and Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (IMP) to bid for the rights to build platinum and base metal refineries to which the country's producers would be compelled to send their ore, according to a Jan. 3 letter to producers, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News.

As there has been no progress toward building a refinery, "the government is reiterating its resolve to enforce the two-year period window, which ends in 2014, after which exports of raw platinum concentrates will not be permitted," Gudyanga said in the letter.

The Platinum Producers Association, which represents the biggest producers, didn't immediately respond to e-mailed questions.

Zimbabwe, which has the second-biggest platinum reserves after neighbouring South Africa, produces 430,000 ounces of the metal per year, the document said. The country's platinum industry needs as much as $5.3 billion if it is to expand to more than 500,000 ounces of output and to construct refineries to process platinum group metals and industrial metals extracted from the same ore bodies, according to the platinum producers group.

- Bloomberg

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