DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/c82003/zimbabwe_mining_re) has announced the addition of the "Zimbabwe Mining Report Q1 2012" report to their offering.

Indigenisation Debate Becomes More Heated

BMI believes that the Zimbabwean government may stand to lose significant amounts of investments from Zimbabwe Platinum (Zimplats)'s parent company Impala Platinum (Implats) should it continue to push through with its revised Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act. With the government unlikely to back down from this initiative, we expect negotiations to continue and become increasingly confrontational.

In this context, in September 2011, Zimplats announced that it had received a letter from Zimbabwe's Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment, Saviour Kasukuwere, informing the company that its indigenisation plans were not sufficient to meet the minimum requirements of the law and that the Minister of Mines and Mining had been asked to cancel Zimplat's operating licence.

It has not just been Zimplats either. Caledonia Mining also received a letter from Kasukuwere informing it that its operating licence for the key Blanket gold mine has also been suspended, 'pending the submission of a compliant indigenisation plan'. As we enter the final quarter of 2011, BMI believes that issues regarding the majority local ownership of mining assets remain the key challenge facing foreign mining companies operating in Zimbabwe. In March 2011, the government committed to the continuation of its controversial Indigenization and Empowerment Act, which calls for a 51% stake in all mining companies (with assets over US$500,000) to be divested to indigenous Zimbabwean groups, with this new ownership structure to have been agreed upon by September 2011.

Implats had already been attacked by President Robert Mugabe. On his 87th birthday in March 2011, Mugabe savaged the company for 'taking all the money to South Africa'. On the day of the government's announcement, Impala's share price fell by 3% on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Companies Mentioned:

• African Consolidated Resources
• Caledonia Mining Corporation
• Zimbabwe Platinum Mines (Zimplats)

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/c82003/zimbabwe_mining_re