HARARE – Zimbabwe’s Mines Ministry will this year present to Cabinet an amended mining law for approval before it is tabled in Parliament, a senior government official said on Monday although he was not clear whether the amendment bill will prescribe 51 percent local ownership of all mines.

"The amendment is ready. As you know, when a draft bill is ready, it is taken to Cabinet, to the Cabinet committee on legislation and then back to cabinet for final approval," Mines Minister Obert Mpofu told reporters. "Only then is it taken to Parliament."

Under the old draft mining law published in 2006, new foreign investors would have been barred from holding more than 49 percent of a mining firm while existing business would have been forced to sell off stake to meet the requirement.

Mpofu said the bill that lapsed before it was passed had been revived, but declined to say if the amended bill would prescribe 51 percent local ownership of all mines in a country, as required under the indigenisation regulations announced last month.

"We are currently looking at the indigenisation law, we want to make sure that legislation tallies. It is not me who will decide that (ownership thresholds), but Parliament," he said.

The changed draft mining Bill will be tabled during the current session of Parliament, according to Mpofu.

A power-sharing government set up last year by President Robert Mugabe and bitter rival Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister, has promised to be flexible in its application of a 2008 empowerment law seeking to transfer majority shareholding in all foreign firms, including mines, to indigenous black people.

But the coalition partners have clashed over regulations issued last month by Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere giving foreign-owned companies 45 days to submit proposals to the Indigenisation Ministry on how they plan to bring on board locals to take 51 percent of their businesses. – ZimOnline