The African Development Bank (AFDB) says small scale miners’ contribution to Zimbabwe’s gold output declined by  6 % in the month of November,2011.

The mining sector has been identified as one of the growth sectors of Zimbabwe's economy.

AFDB said in November that the role of small-scale gold miners was becoming more pronounced in Zimbabwe’s extractive industry, with their contribution to total production increasing to 50 percent in October 2011 from 30 percent in September.

The total gold deliveries from the small-scale players increased from 126, 5 kilograms in June 2011 to 388, 1 kg in October 2011.

Continued growth in the gold sector is however under threat following government’s decision to increase royalties on gold from 4, 5 percent to 7 percent while those for platinum would double to 10 percent, effective January 2012.

The mining sector, with a lot of idle resources, remains key to Zimbabwe’s economic recovery process.

Winston Chitando, the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe (CoMZ) president, said the entire mining sector requires over $5-7 billion over the next 5 years to operating at full capacity and translate to an increase in the sector’s contribution to the fiscus.

Chitando announced in December that the gold sector was underutilised, only at 44, 4 percent based on current production.

To this end, government set aside a $1 million mining loan fund in the 2012 national budget to increase capacity- adding to another $1 million worth of mining equipment comprising compressors and stamp mills that was distributed to small scale miners in 2011.

Government support to small scale miners was only revived last year after the initiative had collapsed during the Zimbabwe dollar era.

Statistics obtained from CoMZ revealed that gold production volumes are expected to generate $823 million in 2013 in export receipts, up from $334, 2 million in 2010 and the $627million at the end of 2011.

The mining body also said the extractive industry requires between about $7 billion over the next five years to reach full capacity.

The sector contributed 65 percent of national exports in 2010 and is projected to contribute at least 50percent of the $4,2bilion projected for 2011.

It also amounted to 11, 2 percent of GDP in 2010 and around 13 percent in 2011. COMZ projects a contribution of 22 percent by 2014.

Zimbabwe — with gold reserves among the largest in Africa — produced 724, 8 kilogrammes in January, which fell to 700 kg in February before increasing to 846 kg in March.

Despite current growth in gold production, figures remain markedly below the record 28 tonnes produced in 1999.