BULAWAYO (miningweekly.com) – The Zimbabwe government says it will soon impose a law to ban the export of raw chrome.

It will hold a follow-up meeting with producers and chromite exporters to explain its position – the key element of which is a statutory insistence on value addition to the mineral before it can be traded on the international markets.

Zimbabwe is believed to have some of the world’s largest, but least exploited, chrome reserves.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) summit in the resort town of Victoria Falls, Mines and Mining Development Minister Obert Mpofu said the proposed ban on raw chrome exports was a loss-control measure, which aimed to plug one of the major holes through which the country had been losing a lot of revenue.

“We have already spoken to some producers and exporters on the issue. The country is losing a lot of revenue through the unregulated sale of such high value minerals resources as chrome and chromite products, which would generate huge revenues if sold through the right channels,” Mpofu said.

He said some producers, such as the Zimbabwe Mining and Smelting Company (Zimasco) and Zimbabwe Alloys, were already smelting raw chrome into such semi-finished products as ferrochrome.

Mpofu said the reform of the chrome sector would also seek to promote small-scale miners by supporting them in setting up smelting plants.

“The government will seek to promote small-scale miners while imposing this total ban on chrome exports before value-addition. The international market is still very good for chrome, so we hope to cash in while it lasts,” he said.

Mpofu said Zimbabwe still had abundant buyers for its chrome products, mainly in South Africa, China and Europe which were willing to buy stockpiles of the mineral.