Zimplats export payments halted by bank The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has ordered the country's banks to stop processing export transactions by its largest exporter, Zimbabwe Platinum, because of its failure to comply with exchange control regulations. The central bank said it had advised banks "to stop processing and facilitating international or any cross-border payments . . . and to stop facilitating any exports . . . on behalf of Zimplats." RioZim seeks Murowa diamond mine buyout RioZim - a 54 per cent locally owned mining company in which Rio Tinto has a minority stake - is seeking to take over Murowa diamond mine in Zimbabwe, owned by its parent group. In March, Rio Tinto said it would sell its international diamond operations. RioZim, which already has a 22 per cent stake in Murowa, now wants to exercise its pre-emptive rights to acquire a majority interest, according to Harpal Randhawa, whose private equity group Global Emerging Markets recently bought 25 per cent of the local mining company. RioZim became locally owned in 2004 when the UK parent divested from the gold and nickel mining company while retaining its majority control of Murowa diamonds. RioZim, with a market capitalisation of $20m, reported net debt at the end of 2011 in excess of $50m. There is likely to be strong political pressure for the state to take over Murowa rather than allowing it to remain privately owned. This is because of ministers" conviction that diamond mining is suited to state ownership after its unhappy experience with the Marange alluvial diamond fields, where smuggling is rife and the finance ministry has said it has failed to extract budgeted tax and dividend revenues. Gideon Gono, RBZ governor, said other foreign mining houses had complied with a directive circulated in February stipulating that funds be transferred from offshore bank accounts to accounts in Zimbabwe. In March, Obert Mpofu, mines minister, said all mining companies should bank locally because "billions of dollars of export earnings were being kept offshore." However, Zimplats, 87 per cent owned by South Africa's Impala Platinum, said in response to the central bank's order: "We were surprised because in reality Zimplats had no objection to the initial communication by the RBZ." The company said three-quarters of its expenditure was spent in Zimbabwe, with the remaining 25 per cent, relating to offshore borrowings, being spent offshore. The foreign loans were raised with "the knowledge and approval of the monetary authorities," the mining group added. Official figures show Zimbabwe earned $661m from mining exports in the first quarter of the year, dominated by diamonds ($214m) and platinum ($202m). Zimplats accounted for just under half of these platinum shipments. The RBZ directive and recent statements by Tendai Biti, finance minister, about a $130m shortfall in diamond revenues paid to the state reflect growing official frustration at a time when the country's balance-of-payments situation is becoming increasingly unsustainable. In 2011, Zimbabwe reported a $3bn current account deficit - about 30 per cent of GDP - while in the first quarter of 2012, exports increased only 14 per cent against import growth of more than 40 per cent. Foreign-owned mining companies are under intense pressure from the Zanu-PF wing of Zimbabwe's coalition government to comply with indigenisation legislation, whereby 51 per cent of a company's shares must be owned by indigenous (black) Zimbabweans. Industry executives complain that at a time when the country desperately needs a business environment friendly to foreign investment, the government is heading in the opposite direction.