Zim May Cut Its Demand For Black Ownership to 15% of Local Operations_Zimbabwe may water down a demand that foreign companies hand over majority stakes in their local operations to black investors, instead asking that they sell 15 percent holdings and invest in social programs, the country’s Chief Mining Commissioner said.

Achieving a 51 percent black-ownership level was proving to be the “major obstacle” to implementing the law, Chief Mining Commissioner Fredson Mabhena said in Johannesburg today. “It looks like direct equity could be a 15 percent stake, with the balance achieved through corporate social investments.” The terms of the bill have yet to be completed, he said.

The proposed black ownership legislation was scheduled to come into effect on March 1, giving companies worth more than $500,000 five years to increase the proportion of their assets owned by black investors, according to a copy of the law distributed by non-governmental organization Veritas Trust.

Zimbabwe on May 18 extended a deadline by which all affected businesses must say how they plan to meet the requirements, Indigenization and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere said that day.

Zimbabwe is trying to rebuild its economy after a decade of political turmoil and recession under the leadership of President Robert Mugabe. The country has the world’s second- largest reserves of platinum and chrome after South Africa, as well as deposits of gold, coal, diamonds and nickel.

‘Win-Win Solution’

Mining companies would be among the first businesses targeted in the effort to hand control to black Zimbabweans, Kasukuwere said on April 21 from the capital, Harare.

Anglo American Plc, which controls the world’s biggest platinum producer, and South African insurer Old Mutual Plc both have operations in the country. Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., the second-largest producer of the metal, said on May 17 it is pushing ahead with a $500 million expansion in Zimbabwe even as talks with government over black-ownership rules continue.

Black investors in Zimbabwe are facing difficulties raising funds to buy controlling stakes in foreign-owned companies in the country, Anglo Platinum Ltd. spokeswoman Mary-Jane Morifi said by mobile phone. “We’re engaging with government to come up with a solution which is a win-win for company and country.”

The company, which is 79.7 percent owned by Anglo American, is drawing up plans to boost its involvement in infrastructure development and “other community programs” in Zimbabwe, she said. Anglo Platinum’s Unki mine, being built in the south of the country, is scheduled to start production in the fourth quarter of the year.

“Investors are saying they can’t invest until they know” the final terms of the black-ownership laws, Mabhena said. “We’ve been consulting and listening to industry.”

Aquarius Platinum Ltd. operates in Zimbabwe, while Rio Tinto Plc has a diamond mine.