Zimbabwe Planning to Open Up Chrome Sector

Reuters reported that Zimbabwe has asked two ferrochrome producers that own 80 percent of the country’s chrome mining claims to release some of their claims. The country holds the second-largest chrome deposits in the world and would like to open up to more players.
As quoted in the market news:

Walter Chidhakwa said Zimbabwe had more than 950-million in chrome reserves, most of which are held by Sinosteel’s Zimasco, and Zimbabwe Alloys, which Anglo American sold to local businessmen in 2006.
Chidhakwa said just as the government had forced Zimbabwe’s biggest platinum producer Zimplats to release ground with 36-million ounces worth of resource in 2006, the two ferrochrome producers had been asked to do the same.
“What we are saying is that we want to have more players in the chrome sector,” Chidhakwa told a mining conference.
“We are in discussions with the companies and the expectation is that we will come up with a new structure which will enable us to also begin then to allocate chrome claims to others who also want to go into the claim sector,” he said.

Click here to read the full Reuters report.