Anglo American has commissioned its Unki mine in Zimbabwe and expects to be producing 65,000 oz of platinum from it per year by the fourth quarter of 2013.

The Unki mine, which has been in development since 2003, has been "technically commissioned and will ramp up production during next year", Anglo American told Bloomberg.

It is the result of several years of wrangling over foreign ownership of mining businesses in Zimbabwe, the second-largest holder of platinum reserves on the African continent after South Africa.

Indigenisation minister Saviour Kaukuwere, a member of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, said last week that foreign companies will be required to cede 51 per cent of their domestic operations to black nationals, according to the news provider.

Anglo American, which did not comment on the statement, said in 2008 that Unki would fall into state ownership if Anglo stopped developing the site as part of a 2.9 billion rand (£270 million) project.

According to New Zimbabwe, the project will create 1,000 direct jobs and 10,000 more are expected to benefit from the move.

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Anglo American Starts Zimbabwean Platinum Mine as Ownership Rules in Flux (14/12/10)

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