From ‘A’ to ZIDA: Zimbabwe’s efforts to ensure ‘ease of doing business’ in the mining sector

Our Zimbabwe ‘open for business’ series, Part 1 of 3

CALGARY, Canada (Aug. 29,2022) — For Zimbabwe, a new era began—politically, economically, socially—in late 2017.

And for foreign investors, demonstrative proof came in the form of the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA).

When President Emmerson Mnangagwa took power in November 2017, sweeping economic reforms began immediately, and one of them was the country’s “open for business” pledge.

“Zimbabwe has experienced a major transformation in its political and economic environment,” the Zimbabwean government declares on its website, adding that the open-for-business mantra “is a call by the President to investors and traders or business entities, both local and international, to take up abundant opportunities in the country.”

Furthermore, “it is a call to re-engage and mobilize, and seeks to mend broken relationships, to pursue a reform agenda that energizes our people and restores hope for a better future for all sections of our population and growth of our economy.”

The creation of ZIDA, in February 2020, provided the proof in the pudding—outlining Zimbabwe’s intentions toward foreign investment, particularly in the mining sector.

“In order to achieve increased and sustained growth in the mining sector, priority will be to improve the ease of doing business in the sector,” according to ZIDA, which was created to promote and protect investments in Zimbabwe, primarily through transparency and streamlining of regulations.

“Zimbabwe is underexplored,” ZIDA declared upon its establishment. “Government has not been approving exclusive prospecting orders (EPOs) despite mineral exploration being vital for mineral resource quantification. The country has thus lagged behind in terms of new discoveries and large-scale investments. Government is prioritizing approval of exploration title and capacitation of mining promotion  . . . to undertake targeted exploration.”

In recent weeks, Pambili Natural Resources Corporation (TSX-V: PNN) CEO Jon Harris met with Farayi Ngulube, Provincial Mining Director for Matabeleland North, in Bulawayo to introduce Pambili and discuss:

• Pambili’s plans to create local prosperity through capital expansion of Zimbabwe’s Happy Valley Mine, a producing gold mine near Bulawayo

• Pambili’s earn-in agreement with Techshed Investments (Pvt) Ltd., the owner of HVM

• Pambili’s long-term plan in helping to “formalize” small-scale mining in Zimbabwe through selective capital investments.

As recently as July, President Mnangagwa pledged to continue to create and maintain a conducive ease-of-doing-business environment to attract both local and global capital, while opening the 25th edition of the Mining, Engineering and Transport Conference in Bulawayo.

(Stay tuned for Part 2 of this Paydirt series on mining’s integral role in Zimbabwe’s economic transformation, and Part 3 on the importance of small-scale mining in Zimbabwe.)