Zimbabwe owes Valterra Platinum 100 million dollars
Valterra Platinum reports that Zimbabwe owes 100 million dollars in export proceeds from 2025. The government has started making payments to clear arrears.
South Africa[Country:{"assets":{"country":"ZA"}}]-based miner Valterra Platinum Limited[Symbol:{"assets":{"symbol":"VALT.L"}}] is currently owed $100 million in unpaid export proceeds by the government of Zimbabwe[Country:{"assets":{"country":"ZW"}}]. The company reported on Wednesday that while these arrears stem from 2025 export activities, authorities have recently begun making payments to address the outstanding balance.
Under national regulations, Zimbabwean exporters are required to surrender 30% of their foreign currency earnings to the state in exchange for local currency. The mining chamber has noted that Valterra and its industry peers have frequently encountered delays in receiving these funds, with the government citing cash flow constraints as the primary cause for the backlog.
"It’s about $100 million that hasn’t been able to be accessed by us," CFO Sayurie Naidoo told analysts during a results call. "We have been engaging with the Reserve Bank as well as the Ministry of Finance, and we are receiving some funds in 2026 so far, and we do expect to receive that over the next couple of months."
The group's Unki mine in Zimbabwe produced 219,700 ounces of platinum group metal (PGM) concentrates in 2025, which accounted for approximately 7% of the company's total concentrate output for the year.
Despite the currency retention challenges, Valterra announced that its full-year headline earnings for 2025 doubled to 16.7 billion rand ($1.05 billion). This financial growth was driven by a 26% increase in the PGM basket price alongside 5 billion rand in operational cost savings, leading to a share price surge of more than 10% following the announcement.
Valterra, which completed its demerger from Anglo American plc[Symbol:{"assets":{"symbol":"AAL.L"}}] last year, declared a final dividend of 43 rand per share, bringing total payouts for 2025 to 12 billion rand. The surge in earnings comes as spot platinum prices hit a record $2,757.69 an ounce in early 2026, driven by tight supply and rising investment demand. The market has also been buoyed by the European Union's decision to reconsider its planned 2035 ban on internal combustion engines, which rely on platinum for emissions-curbing catalytic converters.
