Zimbabwean mines in crunch talks over US sanctions

Zimbabwe's mines are holding talks with banks, government and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe to find a solution after operators reported that their funds had been withheld in MMCZ's foreign accounts by the US Government. The Standard reports that the mines export minerals through the state-run MMCZ, which was slapped with US sanctions in 2008 for ‘contributing to the undermining of democratic process and institutions in Zimbabwe’. As a result, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control has been withholding foreign currency wired through MMCZ accounts, some of it belonging to exporters. Some mining companies last week struggled to pay workers, while several financial obligations could not be met.