Zim contemplating mining takeover

......."Officials who attended the closed meeting said President Mugabe told the mining giant's officials that it would be premature to give them a concrete briefing on the indigenisation proposals because discussions were in early stages with the State still to adopt a policy.

Principle 'must be upheld'

"However, the officials said Cde Mugabe made it clear to the Rio Tinto executives that proposals for the state or indigenous Zimbabweans to control a 51 percent stake in mining firms was a principle that must be upheld," the Herald added.

The president reportedly explained that government was "borrowing the principle" from other countries such as Botswana and Namibia and emphasised that Zimbabwe's policy would recognise "the levels of investment in social responsibility by mining houses in determining ownership structures"....