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Africa, for long relying on export of raw minerals, is pushing for local beneficiation of its minerals for greater economic benefit, Zimbabwean mines minister Walter Chidhakwa said Monday.
The push for value addition and the need for mining conglomerates to invest part of their mining proceeds to development of local infrastructure are part of Africa's mining vision which Chidhakwa will enunciate at the China Mining Conference and Exhibition this week.
He told Xinhua in a telephone interview that he will use the platform to explain Africa's mining thrust ahead of an African mines ministers' meeting to be held in Zimbabwe.
China has in recent years emerged as a growing investor in Africa's mining sector which had largely remained a preserve of Western investors.
In Zimbabwe, Chinese firms are actively participating in the mining sector and these include Anjin Investments and Jinan which are in 50/50 joint partnerships with the Zimbabwe government in mining diamonds in Marange in the eastern part of the country.
China's Sino-Steel is also a major-shareholder in Zimasco, one of Zimbabwe's biggest chrome miners. Several medium-scale Chinese companies are also into gold mining in the country.
China has also been the top source of foreign investment to Zimbabwe over the past few years, with mining one of the priority sectors to which a large proportion of Chinese investment went to.
Chinese investment into Zimbabwe grew by more than 5,000 percent over the past five years, rising from 11.2 million U.S. dollars in 2009 to 602 million dollars in 2013 as Chinese investors largely focused on mining, agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
Cumulatively, Chinese firms invested 1.3 billion dollars over the past five years, making Zimbabwe the top recipient of Chinese investment last year.
However, Zimbabwe's mining sector which has been the pillar of the economy over the years is now regressing.
Government had initially projected the sector to grow by 10.7 percent this year but this has been downgraded to -1.9 percent due to weak international prices for some minerals, power shortages, obsolete equipment and inadequate funding for recapitalization.
Chidhakwa said Zimbabwe will host this meeting, which comes after a decision by African leaders in 2011 for the continent to benefit more from its vast mineral resources.
"I thought that it will be appropriate for me to take this opportunity to talk about Africa's mining vision at the conference, instead of just talking about Zimbabwe," Chidhakwa said.
He said the vision advocates for Africa's mining sector to benefit local communities through equity ownership in the mining projects as well as through construction of infrastructure.
He said his speech will therefore touch on the importance that Africa is placing on value addition of its mineral resources and the need for sustainable mining through land reclamation.
"I will also talk about the need for us to get technology that enables us not to just extract mineral resources but to add value to them," he said.
Africa is richly endowed with vast mineral resources, and the U. S. Geological Society ranks Africa as the largest or second- largest reserve of bauxite, cobalt, industrial diamonds, manganese, phosphate rock, platinum group metals and zirconium.
Zimbabwe has the world's second largest platinum reserves after South Africa, is estimated to possess diamond deposits enough to satisfy 25 percent of the world market and boasts of 40 other minerals that have not been substantially exploited that include gold, nickel, coal, iron, copper, chrome and tin.
While most African economies are agriculture based, mining continues to play a significantly important role as well.
