Modern Mining June 2020

Encouraging prospects for Zimbabwe

D espite the economic turmoil currently pre- vailing in Zimbabwe, with the country’s annual inflation surging to 785,55% in May from 765,57% in April, I am of the view that the country is likely to find some solace in its mining industry. Judging by the current project pipeline, the mining industry in Zimbabwe may be poised for a boom, with new discoveries in diamonds and gold, as well as a new coal proj- ect likely to enter production this year, signalling a new wave of mining activity. As part of its Vision 2030 of becoming a mid- dle-income economy by 2030, the country seeks to transform its mining sector from a US$2,7- billion industry attained in 2017 to a US$12-billion industry by 2023. If current discoveries and new projects are anything to go by, I believe the coun- try is on course to achieving the feat. The diamonds sector remains one of the cornerstones of Zimbabwe’s mining industry. To provide some context, diamonds alone are expected to contribute US$1-billion a year to the country’s mining coffers by 2023. The country last year produced 2,8-million carats and, according to Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando, the aim is to scale up to 10-million carats by 2023. The projection is said to be supported by extensive geological work that has been under- taken in recent years. I recently spoke to James Campbell, MD of Botswana Diamonds (BOD), who has for years been interested in the diamond potential of Zimbabwe. He confirmed that his company had undertaken significant early stage work to identify opportunities in the country. The prolific Marange diamond field is a tar- get. BOD has a joint venture agreement with Vast Resources on a specific concession in the Marange field. The award of the licence has been imminent for a while now, which will pave the way for rapid exploration and will include trial mining. Apart from Marange, BOD continues to examine other brownfield kimberlite opportunities in the country. Elsewhere, the recent discovery of new dia- mond deposits in Mwenezi, in the Masvingo province, is cause for optimism for the country in its quest to reach 10-million carats by the 2023

target. The discovery of diamonds around the Chingwizi area followed an aero-magnetic survey commissioned by the government last year. Mwenezi has always been believed to have huge resources of kimberlite diamonds, which led to the survey which has confirmed the presence of gems in the area. The surveyed block covered approximately 8 800 km stretching over Ngundu, Rutenga and other parts of Mwenezi district. It focused on conglomerate, alluvial and kimberlite deposits. The same aero-magnetic survey, which was conducted by a local firm, Aero Surv Zimbabwe, in partnership with a South African company, Xcalibur Airborne Geophysics, has also con- firmed vast gold deposits in the Chiredzi area of the Masvingo province, which is good news to a country seeking a re-boost of its dwindling gold mining industry. In another interesting development, Contago Holdings – which recently acquired, by way of a reverse takeover of Consolidated Growth Holdings’ interest in the Lubu Coalfield Project in the Binga area of the Matebeleland North province – aims to deliver first production and revenues from the project by end of Q4 2020. Lubu is a derisked development with total his- torical spend in excess of US$20-million and over 100 holes and 12 000 m of drilling completed. The project has a total resource of over 1-billion tonnes of coal. The company is targeting production and sale of semi-soft coking coal for export to south- ern African countries and sees additional potential for sales of thermal coal to domestic power com- panies. In a recent chat to CEO Carl Esprey, he confirmed that Contago was targeting an initial 1-million tonnes per annum of product sales for the next 10 years. The new discoveries and the new coal proj- ect will definitely provide a significant boost to Zimbabwe’s mining industry, which contributes about 15% to the country’s gross domestic product and more than 60% of the foreign exchange earn- ings. However, for these projects to reach their full potential, there is need for government to show the political will to address fundamental problems including foreign currency exchange issues and electricity shortages. 

COMMENT

Munesu Shoko

Editor: Munesu Shoko e-mail: mining@crown.co.za Features Writer: Mark Botha e-mail: markb@crown.co.za Advertising Manager: Bennie Venter e-mail: benniev@crown.co.za Design & Layout: Darryl James

Publisher: Karen Grant Deputy Publisher: Wilhelm du Plessis Circulation: Brenda Grossmann Published monthly by: Crown Publications (Pty) Ltd P O Box 140, Bedfordview, 2008 Tel: (+27 11) 622-4770 Fax: (+27 11) 615-6108 e-mail: mining@crown.co.za www.modernminingmagazine.co.za

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Average circulation January-March 5 438

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher.

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