Published: 12 March 2014

Zimbabwe is facing "huge" external demand for chrome ore, renewing pressure on the government to relax a law that bans exports of the unprocessed material, Mines Minister Walter Chidakwa said.

There has been a "lot of pressure on us to lift the ban," Chidakwa said.

"Everybody is looking for raw chrome on the market, the pressure on us is huge."  

"The situation in the chrome-mining industry is dire, it has reached critical levels," Chidakwa said.

"It's not going to be easy for us to relax the ban. To open the window for ore exports when we have said we want beneficiation, we will be sending a message that there is no need for value addition. It might discourage investors willing to go into value addition."

Zimbabwe will continue to seek investors to build chrome-smelting capacity and there are negotiations with some to establish smelting plants "even without necessarily engaging in mining activities," Chidakwa said. 
- bloomberg

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