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Zim miners set to miss refinery deadline

Harare -Three platinum miners operating in Zimbabwe could miss a year-end deadline to build a refinery and stop ore exports, the deputy mining minister said on Thursday.

"It might not be possible to meet the deadline given the time left," Deputy Mines Minister Fred Moyo told AFP after meeting officials from local subsidiaries of South African-based Anglo-American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Aquarius Platinum.

Authorities last year give the three firms mining platinum in Zimbabwe until December 2014 to build a refinery as the government moves to ensure the country reaps maximum benefit from its minerals.

But Moyo admitted that "the project requires technology, a huge amount of funding and skills."

He would not say whether the government would shift the deadline further.

The platinum miners have up to January 14 to hand in plans to build their own refineries.

President Robert Mugabe last year announced plans to ban the export of raw minerals including gold and platinum, and this month the government began levying on platinum mines a 15% tax on all exports.

Mugabe's government wants to capture the value-added on minerals by processing them in Zimbabwe instead of exporting them raw.

The cash-strapped country is increasingly looking to the mining sector to help solve its liquidity shortage, which economists say has worsened since the July elections won by veteran leader.

The greyish mineral used in the auto industry and in jewellery production is shipped out of the country in raw blocks for refining in neighbouring South Africa, the world's largest platinum maker.

Zimbabwe, which accounts for 6% of global output and is the third producer of platinum after South Africa and Russia, is determined to force the local refining of the mineral.

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