ENRC, China move toward platinum production in Zimbabwe

LONDON. October 23. KAZINFORM Zimbabwe Mining Development Corp., a state-owned company, plans to start metal production with Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) and a Chinese company on concessions taken from Anglo American Platinum Ltd. (AMS) and Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (IMP).

A venture with ENRC, controlled by businessmen from Kazakhstan and the government of the former Soviet Union country, is due to start producing platinum in the first quarter of next year. An exploration report from an alliance with the Chinese company, previously identified as Norinco International Cooperation Ltd. (000065), is due by year-end.

"Everything is on course" for the venture with ENRC, , to start production in the African country by April, Jerry Ndlovu, managing director of the state-owned Zimbabwean company, said in an interview in Harare, the capital, yesterday. ENRC declined to comment when called yesterday, Kazinform refers to Bloomberg.

Zimbabwe, which has the world's biggest resources of platinum after South Africa, is trying to expand its mining industry to help the country recover from a decade of economic contraction between 2000 and 2009. Failed land reform programs slashed production of tobacco and roses, increasing the country's reliance on metal.

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