Impala Platinum (Implats) will be given credit for its social spending when the Zimbabwean government considers its controversial foreign ownership rules.

South African Implats currently owns the vast majority of shares in Zimbabwe's main platinum miner Zimplats and would have a large proportion of its stake taken from it under current government proposals.

Building roads and houses will count in its favour when the government comes to decide the extent of local ownership, a senior representative from Implats has said.

"Credits will be given for things like roads and houses that we've built, dams that we built, which at the end of the day become part of the national infrastructure," Implats executive director Les Paton told Reuters.

The company already negotiated some credits when agreeing to hand over mining rights held by Zimplats to the Zimbabwean government.

Proposals dictate that the government would take a 51 per cent stake in all foreign-owned mines, but speeches by president Robert Mugabe and his government have been giving mixed signals about the nature of the final policy.

Ÿ Adfero Ltd