A Zimbabwean government official denied that the country completed a deal last year to supply Iran with uranium despite his comments to a British newspaper that an agreement was reached, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) reports.
Gift Chimanikire, Zimbabwe’s deputy mining minister and a member of the opposition group Movement for Democratic Change, initially told the Times of London about the deal but now claims he was misquoted and that Zimbabwe is "exploring and not mining," according to FDD:
Zimbabwe’s Kanyemba mine is said to have uranium reserves of approximately 45,000 tons, but it lacks the capacity to export. The uranium is mixed with other minerals, making extraction impossible without sizable investment. However, reports suggest the government has already promised China "special mining rights" and 42% of the mine is owned by the China Uranium Corporation.
A Chinese deal does not preclude Iran from penetrating the Zimbabwe uranium market, however. As The Christian Science Monitor reported in March 2012, "Iran has guns and expertise. Zimbabwe has uranium and diamonds. Both are international pariahs. It's a heaven-made match in a world of crushing international sanctions." One leaked report also indicates that former Iranian Foreign Minister Salehi met secretly with Zimbabwean officials in January 2011 "to resume negotiations ... for the benefit of Iran's uranium procurement plan." Iran may have offered up military supplies for raw uranium.
Longtime Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, widely assailed by human rights groups for what they view as his authoritarian rule, recently won reelection in a contest marred by reports of voter suppression and fraud.
FDD notes that Iran has sought uranium in Africa since 2006, when a large shipment of smuggled uranium en route to Iran was intercepted by Tanzanian custom officials. The uranium was extracted from the Lubumbashi mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the same provider of uranium for the bomb the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima.