In January, the French multinational SGS will begin the process of controlling the quantities, prices and specifications of minerals extracted and exported from Mozambique, a government source told Lusa on Wednesday.
“The government was losing a lot of money because, before this decision, the companies were the ones declaring the specifications and prices that the mines were selling on the international market. For example, heavy sands have several specifications and, within the compositions, it was the lowest cost that they declared in exports,” João Macaringue, deputy coordinator of the Economic Reforms Office at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, explained to Lusa.
The hiring of SGS was the result of a public tender opened by Mozambique’s government as part of the package of economic acceleration measures adopted in August 2022 to promote economic stability and stimulate the development of productive sectors.
“If a mineral cost $50 here, it could cost $250 or $300 dollars. This was a routine practice and caused the country to lose a lot of money,” added João Macaringue.
SGS has a three-year contract with the Mozambican authorities, and operations are due to start at the end of January, pending approval from the Administrative Court.
“The company is going to classify the minerals and define their specificity, taking into account international reference prices,” he said.
With the measure, continued the deputy coordinator of the Economic Reforms Office at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the companies that exploit graphite, heavy sands and coal in large volumes will be subject to inspections.
“The great certainty that the government has is that the country will recover a large part of the money that it is losing,” he concluded.
In addition to this measure, in the mineral resource exploitation sector, among the 20 economic acceleration measures adopted by the Mozambican executive, it is now mandatory that % of the revenue stays where the mineral resource is exploited.
“These measures were already in place, but the percentage set was 2.75% only for the district where the mineral resource came from. Now it has been increased to 10%, of which 2.75% for the place where the mineral is extracted and 7.25% for the province as a whole,” concluded João Macaringue.
