Karo project excites government
The government is enthusiastic about the development and plant construction phase of the Karo Platinum project, despite the impact of declining commodity prices on production projections. Over $100 million has been invested in the project so far.
Rudairo Mapuranga
Speaking to Mining Zimbabwe on the sidelines of a Ministerial visit to the Karo Platinum project in Ngezi on Tuesday, the Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Engineer Polite Kambamura, said that the Karo project, despite changing its timelines for production commencement, is in line with global mine development for Platinum Group Metals (PGM) projects, which is between 10 to 15 years. Karo’s timelines, despite being reviewed upwards, will only go to 8 years.
Kambamura said the future of the project will be of significant benefit to the country’s economic prosperity. It currently employs over 1100 people, with 420 of them coming directly from the Mhondoro Ngezi community. 99 percent of the employees are Zimbabweans, and 14 percent are women. The company has a strategy to employ at least 20 percent women.
“As you are aware, mine projects take a long time to establish. The company started with massive exploration drilling and they drilled 488 holes, which translates to 53 km. They are further drilling to 58 km. The exploration will be JORC certified.
“Karo Resources is going to process 225,000 tonnes of ore per month at a strip ratio of 1:19, which means for every tonne of ore that is mined, they have to bring 19 tonnes of waste, translating to 4 million tonnes of waste that has to be moved per month. Annually, the company is looking forward to producing 190,000 ounces of PGM. This includes 42% platinum, 39.9% palladium, 8.5% gold, and 4.1% rhodium, at a grade of 2.8 grams per tonne. The deposit here is very economical, and the company is also looking to exploit base minerals. So the future here is great,” Dr. Kambamura said.
Speaking to Mining Zimbabwe at the same event, Karo Resources Country Director Dr. Joe Zimba said pilot mining has already started in the country, with the company using a mining strategy after commissioning in 2025.
Dr. Zimba said Karo was looking forward to commissioning as soon as possible, with the possibility of going ahead of the timelines if the factors that affected the previous projections have changed.
He said the project will be very significant, contributing around 1 percent of the national GDP.
“The pilot mining has already started, and construction of processing plants is underway, and everything should be set by 2025. We would like to commission as early as possible. We are fully committed to this project, and we want it to contribute to the country’s GDP as soon as possible. We believe that this project will contribute 1 to 2 percent of the country’s GDP,” Dr. Zimba said.
Karo Platinum
Karo Platinum is the newest low-cost, open-pit PGM asset under construction and located on the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe.
A joint venture between Karo Mining Holdings (85%) and Generation Minerals (15%), a Republic of Zimbabwe special purpose vehicle (SPV), the Karo Platinum project has an initial life of 17 years with less than 10% of the 23 903 ha project area having been utilised to attaining this project life.
The project has a short construction period and is due to deliver its first ore to the mill by the third quarter of 2024.