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Article: Rio Tinto urges Zimbabwe to review empowerment law.(Business Report)
- Article from:
- The Star (South Africa)
- Article date:
- October 4, 2007
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Independent News & Media PLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BYLINE: JUSTIN BROWN
Johannesburg - Zimbabwe should implement its empowerment programme at a similar pace and scale as South Africa or the country would lose investor interest and mining and exploration skills, Rio Tinto warned yesterday.
Zimbabwe's parliament late last month passed a bill requiring foreign-owned companies, including mines and banks, to sell off a 51 percent stake in their subsidiaries to local firms.
Andrew Mackenzie, chief executive of Rio Tinto's diamonds and minerals unit, told the American Business Association of Zimbabwe conference that the mining industry had a "crucial role in the economic turnaround of Zimbabwe ... if ...