Zimbabwe May Halt Raw Platinum Exports to South Africa

Reuters reported that Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, said the country may stop exporting raw platinum to South Africa in order to force mining companies to build a refinery in the company.

As quoted in the market news:

Mugabe, who at the age of 89 won re-election in July, told a weekend meeting of his ruling ZANU-PF party that platinum producers were ignoring a government directive two years ago to set up a refinery in the country.

‘Let us close our doors immediately and say no raw platinum will go to South Africa. The former minister gave them two years and we must see them now arranging to build a refinery,’ the state-run Herald newspaper quoted Mugabe as saying.

‘If they have not started, after that warning, building a refinery then when the time comes for us to demand that all refining has to be done here, they should not blame us.’

Click here to read the full Reuters report.