Work has begun on the sinking of Zimbabwe's third platinum mine at Shurugwi.

The Anglo-American Corporation owns the $90 million Unki Platinum Mine, but a twenty per cent stake for indigenous businesspeople has been reserved, as is dictated by Government conditions on economic empowerment.

The Minister of Mines and Mining, Edward Chindori-Chininga, assured executives of the Government's support and predicted that platinum and its associated materials would soon be the most important mining activity in the country:

'The existence of both Unki and Mimosa platinum mines in the Midlands speaks volumes of the contribution that the province is going to make to the national platinum production.

'When Unki mine is fully developed the Midlands province will be the country's single largest producer of minerals in both volume and value terms.'

After South Africa, Zimbabwe has the second largest platinum reserves in the world. But as South African exploration is becoming more expensive, Zimbabwe hopes to become a more important rival:

'As South Africa's mines get deeper and deeper, Zimbabwe's platinum mines will become more and more competitive as far as the unit production costs are concerned', said Mr Chindori-Chininga.

The next step, he said, would be for a platinum refinery to be built, so platinum mined in Zimbabwe would no longer have to be sent abroad - specifically to South Africa - for refining.