It is reported that bureaucratic issues on iron ore claims, which have delayed the revival of NewZim Steel Limited, will be cleared in the next two weeks.

But The Herald Business understands problems affecting NewZim Steel's revival might not be fully resolved within the timeframe indicated by industry and commerce minister professor Dr Welshman Ncube.

This is because there is a pending court case on a dispute over mineral rights to the Mwanesi iron ore deposits, the biggest known iron ore reserves in the country.

Mr Gift Chimanikire deputy minister of mines and mining development said that the Mwanesi deposits were erroneously allocated to an individual, a former employee of Ziscosteel who had inside knowledge about them.

He added that "The claims have not yet been transferred to NewZim Steel. They are registered in the name of an individual, which is improper because it's a reserved area. When we discovered the anomaly, our chief mining commissioner annulled the registration because our Gweru mining commissioner erred in pegging for the individual in a reserved area."

In an earlier court contest, the ministry lost out following a default judgment in favor of the individual holdings rights to Mwanesi iron ore deposits after the ministry failed to appear in court due to a communication breakdown between the Harare and Gweru offices.

Deputy minister Mr Chimanikire said while NewZim was entitled to some claims it would be wrong for them to have most of the reserves in their name, as they would not utilize them all at once. The issue of how much NewZim will be entitled to would be resolved after the wrangle over the ownership of Mwanesi iron ore deposits has been completed.

NewZim Minerals holds rights to the bulk of the country's known iron ore deposits, believed to run into billions of tonnes.

Sources say this would and this has been seen creating a monopoly. It is also feared that Zimbabwe would be left with no room to maneuver in the future if it wanted to expand the steel manufacturing sector after selling most of its iron ore mineral rights to Essar Global Limited.

Essar Global, through Essar Africa Holdings, had put conditions for the revival of NewZim Steel and these included guarantees on power, transport, fiscal concessions and mineral claims (iron ore and coal claims).

(Sourced from www.allafrica.com)