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Friday, 27th April 2007 (6010 views)

Security agents have been sent to monitor gold production at Zimbabwe's major gold-mining firms, according to Mining Weekly.

The government deployed officers from the central intelligence organisation and the police gold squad four weeks ago, amid concerns from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) that falling gold output was a result of smuggling.

A manager at one mine told Mining Weekly: "They are recording every step of the production process and are working in shifts."

There is an added urgency for the government to increase gold output because it will be disqualified from selling gold directly on the international market if it does not produce a minimum of ten tonnes per year.

In January and February, Zimbabwe was only able to produce 1.4 tonnes.

The report follows recent news that the government has closed down the RBZ-owned gold mine Globe & Phoenix for violating the environmental management act.

Andrew Langa, deputy minister for environment and tourism, closed the mine after finding that it had not produced an environment-impact assessment report.

 

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