THE Central African Mining Expropriation Company, a South African company which bought mining claims in Zimbabwe said this week it will construct a platinum mine and hope to start producing 120 000 ounces per year in 2009.

    Camec, which owns various mining operations in the region bought mining claims in Zimbabwe through a company called Lefever Finance, which was registered in the British Virgin Islands.

    Lefever owned 60 percent of a Zimbabwean company called Todal Mining, which held the rights.

    The remaining 40 percent of Todal is held by the Zimbabwe Mineral Development Corporation (ZMDC).

    Camec bought Lefever from a company called Meryweather Investments to which it paid US$5 million in cash and issued 215 million new Camec shares worth about $238 million.

    In a statement accompanying its results for the year to the end of March that were released this week, the company said work had already started on the site of the Zimbabwean mine.

    The report said, "we are confident that we can bring the mine into operation during 2009, ultimately producing 120 000 to 150 000 ounces of four element (platinum group metals) per annum."The Camec report added: "Todal has negotiated the right to export platinum from Zimbabwe and has also secured agreement to allow it to expatriate the profits generated by its mining operations in the country.

    "In addition, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has extended to Todal the same fiscal incentives that had been granted to Anglo Platinum under the special mining lease agreement for the development of the project.

    These incentives cover royalties, income tax, import duties value added tax and withholding taxes."Camec said that a management team led by Gordon Thompson, formerly the head of operations at the South Deep gold mine in South Africa, had been appointed.

    Activity in Zimbabwe is strategically important in Camec's plans to become a leading African investment and production company.

    The primary resources that Camec is currently interested in are tantalite, gold and tin, with a production and buying infrastructure already in place.

    But Camec also lent US$100 million to Lefever to "enable Lefever to comply with its contractual obligations to the Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe."Repayment to Lefever is to be made from the ZMDC's share of dividends from Todal.

    Zimplats is currently Zimbabwe's biggest platinum maker, producing at least 4,5 million tonnes of platinum ore annually.