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Harare Correspondent
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe said yesterday that his government would soon lay claim to half-ownership of all the country's privately owned mines.

Mining is one of Zimbabwe's most vital economic sectors, and one of the few sources of foreign currency left in the midst of an economic crisis following the collapse of the once robust agricultural industry, ironically because of land seizures from white commercial farmers.

The state-controlled daily newspaper Herald quoted Mugabe as saying:"We are going to demand that government be given 50% shares in the mines. We cannot recognise absolute ownership of our resources. That must be corrected."

Mugabe did not suggest any compensation for the equity.