Nigerian billionaire to settle Zimbabwe concession dispute
Bravura Zimbabwe, which is exploring for platinum in the Serui concession in Selous, Mashonaland West Province, has agreed to help the government pay a US$15m settlement to South African-based Amari Platinum, the previous holder of the concession who has battled the government in international courts, it has been learnt.
Bravura is owned by the Nigerian billionaire, Benedict
Peters.
In 2011, the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development
cancelled Amari’s right to operate the Serui concession after the company had
spent millions of dollars exploring it and identifying an economically viable
resource of 18 million ounces of platinum.
Bravura Zimbabwe (Pvt) Limited then signed a platinum mining
project agreement with the Government of Zimbabwe in 2019 at a function that was presided over
by President Emmerson Mnangagwa
Amari, which had signed a joint venture agreement with the
State-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, initially sued for $500m.
But after years of litigation, Amari has now settled for
$15m, government sources said.
It is understood that President Mnangagwa’s administration
approached Bravura, the new holders of the Serui concession, to pay the
settlement.
“Bravura will pay the money to the government, which will
settle with Amari. But the payment is conditional on Bravura finishing its
exploration and quantifying the economic resource,” a government source who is
privy to the agreement said.
The agreement could help end the long running dispute
between Zimbabwe and Amari, which had further damaged the country’s image
abroad as a violator of property rights.
Mines Minister Winston Chitando and Bravura’s country
manager Lionel Mhlanga did not immediately respond to questions sent to them.
In November last year, Bravura said it had raised US$1bn to
develop its platinum mine and then set an ambitious target to start mine
construction within 18 months.
Some industry experts, however, remain skeptical about
Bravura’s mining credentials as the company has no expertise in platinum
mining.
Moreover, developing the mine will be no easy task. The
platinum group metals deposits at Hartley have in the past proved too complex
to mine, even for experienced miners.
Despite his financial acumen in Africa, Peters was forced to
flee his native Nigeria and now lives in Ghana after reports of his improper
financial conduct emerged in Africa’s populous country.
Last month, Nigeria’s Centre for Social Justice, Equity And
Transparency (CESJET) asked the country’s Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) to arrest and prosecute Peters over allegations bordering on
conspiracy, fraud, tax evasion, corruption and money laundering.
Peters, who is chairman of the Aiteo Group of Companies, the
largest domestic oil producer in Nigeria, denies the charges and alleges a
political plot by his rivals.
Peters’ Aiteo was investigated on charges relating to asset
transfers by EFCC and was cleared in 2017.
That same year, a court also cleared Peters on allegations
of bribery and money laundering.
He won a court order in 2018 to have the EFCC remove his
name from a ‘wanted list’.
His entrance into Zimbabwe’s mining sector comes at a
critical time when the country is in desperate need of foreign investment to
stem decades of economic decay. Some experts, who spoke to this publication
this week, hope his fraud and corruption allegations will not follow him to
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s frantic crave for foreign investment has often
exposed the country to dubious investors who manipulate political connections
to secure mining concessions for speculative purposes, analysts said.
“After the fraud and corruption allegations in Nigeria, the
first test in Zimbabwe would be if he can honour the deal to settle Amari. From
there, he would need to quickly move into production if he is to establish
himself as a serious investor in Zimbabwe. In the last few years, we have seen
just too many speculative investors, some using political connections to
plunder our resources,” a local mining consultant who preferred anonymity said.
Government recently announced that it was in the process of
repossessing at least 213 mining concessions that are lying idle because they
were being used for speculative purposes.
Zimbabwe has the second largest known reserves of platinum
group metals after South Africa but new investments into the sector have been
hamstrung largely by corruption and inconsistent policies. – Business Times
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