B2Gold weighs acquiring gold assets in Zimbabwe

B2Gold, the Canadian company that owns mines in Africa and the Philippines, is interested in acquiring gold assets in Zimbabwe.

B2Gold Corp., the Canadian company that owns mines in Africa and the Philippines, is interested in acquiring gold assets in Zimbabwe.

The mid-tier gold producer which has mines in Mali, Namibia and the Philippines, has held talks with the government and other officials in the southern African nation “to see if they are ready for us to come in,” said Clive Johnson, chief executive officer at the Vancouver-based company. 

“There is really a strong case and we are making that case in Zimbabwe,” Johnson said in a Nov. 24 interview. “We are looking at it as intriguing potential with some advanced projects as well as exploration potential.”

B2Gold weighed buying an idled Zimbabwean gold mine two years ago but wanted authorities to exempt it from a law that forces miners to sell all the metal to a unit of the country’s central bank, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the details. 

Zimbabwe desperately needs fresh investment in its key mining sector to reboot a struggling economy. Still, forcing gold miners to sell the bulk of their bullion to the central bank unit, Fidelity Printers and Refiners Ltd., which then pays them back partly in dollars and partly in rapidly depreciating local currency, is unnerving to new investors.

Winston Chitando, the Mines Minister, said that B2Gold has shown interest in investing and is holding talks with privately-owned gold mining firms.