Zimbabwe mineral revenue drops by 6 pct

Zimbabwe's mineral value declined 6. 1 percent in 2014 to 1.85 billion U.S. dollars from 1.97 billion the previous year due to declining mineral prices on the international market, the Chamber of Mines said Friday.

The mining group also attributed the plunge to a decline in platinum production after the country's largest platinum producer, Zimplats, reported a depressed performance in the second quarter of 2014 due to collapse of its biggest mine.

The mining giant posted 20.5 million dollars operating loss in the quarter after the collapse of its largest mine, Bimha, in August last year.

Zimplats is 87 percent owned by South Africa's Impala Platinum Holdings.

According to the Chamber of Mines statistics, the value of coal in 2014 declined to 41.2 million dollars from 171.48 million dollars in 2013. Similarly, production fell to 2.74 million tonnes from 5 million tonnes.

Gold production increased 9.1 percent to 15.3 tonnes from 14.06 tonnes but its value dropped by almost 2 percent to 614.3 million dollars.

Nickel production rose to 16.6 tonnes last year from 14 tonnes the previous year, with its value rising to 202.4 million dollars from 158 million dollars in 2013.

Chrome production increased to 373,031 tonnes from 355,142 tonnes but revenue was almost flat at 36.6 million dollars.

High Carbon Ferrochrome production rose to 153,164 tonnes from 129,553 tonnes while value increased to 144.5 million dollars from 127 million dollars in the prior year.

Platinum production was at 12.4 tonnes with a value of 495.4 million dollars from 13.05 tonnes valued at 554 million dollars in 2013.

Mining is Zimbabwe's second largest foreign currency earner after agriculture. Endi