Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has reversed plans to double its gold royalty rate to 10%, a new 2026 budget bill showed on Wednesday, following protests by miners and industry groups.
A royalty rate of 5% would continue to apply for gold prices between $1,200 and $5,000 per ounce, according to the revised budget bill, which was approved by Zimbabwe’s lower parliament chamber in the early hours of Wednesday following lengthy debate.
In his budget speech last month, Ncube had proposed doubling the gold royalty rate to 10% for gold sold above $2,501 an ounce. During the late-night budget debate, however, he told lawmakers that a 10% royalty rate would now only apply if the bullion price topped $5,000 an ounce. Small-scale miners would continue to pay lower royalty rates of up to 2%, he added.
“I have been persuaded by the contributions from both sides of the House and by the public. We have also received representation from the gold mining companies, the federation comprising the small-scale miners who need to amend these royalty proposals for gold,” Ncube told MPs.
Large-scale miners such as Caledonia Mining have warned that the proposed royalty hike would impact profitability at its 80,000 ounce-per-year Blanket mine in southern Zimbabwe. Caledonia said the royalty increase and other changes to Zimbabwe’s fiscal regime would also undermine plans to develop its $500 million Bilboes project, which is set to be Zimbabwe’s biggest gold mine.
Zimbabwe produced 42 metric tons of gold in the 11 months to November 2025, a new peak, outpacing the previous record of 37 metric tons in 2024.
Industry groups had warned that the government’s royalty hike would hurt efforts to attract investment and reposition Zimbabwe among Africa’s top gold producers.
The Finance Minister also said the fact that large scale miners are charged more royalties than small scale miners creates arbitrage: “We think that as much as 50% of the gold being delivered by small-scale producers is actually from large-scale producers because they realise that there is a lower royalty, so they make arrangements and then they deliver through the small-scale producers. Of course, the gold gets delivered, so we are happy that the gold has been delivered, exported but this arbitrage is a source of discomfort.”
Reuters (additional: newZWire)
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