HARARE, Aug. 29– The Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) has intensified its crackdown on mineral smuggling, recording 18 cases of suspected smuggling and irregular movement of minerals between January and August this year.
MMCZ General Manager Nomusa Jane Moyo said on Friday that the cases involve 2,654 tonnes of mineral material and metal scrap, dominated by lithium, chrome and silica. Among these, a 1,500-tonne chrome concentrate stockpile in Darwendale was embargoed.
“The nature of offenses included movement without valid documentation, misuse or falsification of export papers, cargo misdeclaration and attempted movement of unbeneficiated mineral ore,” Moyo said in the MMCZ’s maiden mineral resource accounting and surveillance market update.
She noted that most cases were recorded at border points, a reflection of MMCZ’s strengthened enforcement capability, and critical minerals remain a focus in line with government policy on beneficiation and export control.
Among the key interceptions at Forbes Border Post, MMCZ inspectors stopped a truck carrying 33 tonnes of lithium spodumene ore using photocopied export papers on July 27, and another consignment of three tonnes of lithium ore and 28 tonnes of spodumene concentrate on Aug. 3.
In the latest case at Beitbridge on Aug. 20, a truck carrying 36.88 tonnes of suspected copper and aluminium scrap destined for South Africa was intercepted.
Moyo said the MMCZ will continue tightening mineral resource accounting through border inspections, mine-level monitoring, intelligence-led surveillance, sampling, mineral verification and joint enforcement operations. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
