HARARE, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe has given platinum minesa Jan. 18 deadline to submit proposals to build a precious metalrefinery after President Robert Mugabe last year threatened toban raw exports, state media reported on Wednesday.
The ultimatum would affect the world's two largest platinumproducers, Anglo American Platinum and Impala PlatinumHoldings (Implats), which both have operations inZimbabwe.
The southern African country has the second-largest knownplatinum reserves in the world and the government last year gaveminers two years to set up a refinery in the country or face aban on raw exports of the metal.
Busi Chindove, spokeswoman for Implats' local unit Zimplats, confirmed to Reuters that her company had received aletter from the government to submit its plans for a platinumrefinery, but would not give details.
Zimplats owns a base metal refinery that separates mineralslike nickel, chrome and copper from platinum metal groups butsays the plant is out of action because outdated technologymakes it too expensive to run. It sends platinum concentrate toneighbouring South Africa for processing.
The state-owned Herald newspaper said mines ministrypermanent secretary Francis Gudyanga had written to Zimplats,Anglo American's local unit Unki, and Mimosa mine, which isjointly owned by Zimplats and Aquarius Platinum Ltd, tosubmit refinery plans.
"Once the refinery is established all the producers in thecountry will be compelled to send the PGMs (platinum metalgroup) concentrate to this facility for toll refinery," thepaper quoted Gudyanga as saying in the letter.
Gudyanga was not immediately available for comment onWednesday.
In December Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said thegovernment would from January levy a tax on unprocessedplatinum, part of efforts to force mines to set up a refinery inthe country, but it did not give a figure.
The Zimbabwe chamber of mines has said the country wouldneed to raise platinum output to 500,000 ounces a year tojustify a refinery.
The chamber says Zimbabwe produced 350,000 ounces of refinedplatinum in 2012, about 6 percent of world output.
The chamber estimates that the refining facility would costat least $2 billion, or about a fifth of the country's grossdomestic product, to build.
