Freda Rebecca Gold Mine Expands Exploration to Extend Mine Life
Freda Rebecca Gold Mine, the country’s largest gold producer, is undertaking extensive exploration efforts at its Bindura mine to extend its mine life and increase processing capacity.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
Speaking to Mining Zimbabwe, Freda Rebecca Managing Director Patrick Maseva-Shayawabaya emphasized the importance of extending the mine’s operational lifespan beyond the current five years to enable more confident planning.
“Freda currently has a mine life of about five years. We need to extend that beyond five years, which will allow us to plan with much more confidence. The expansion will depend on the results of the ongoing exploration work. Initially, our goal is to extend the life of the mine. However, if the exploration reveals a much larger resource than we currently know, there will be an opportunity to increase the plant’s capacity, enabling us to produce significantly more than we are now,” said Maseva-Shayawabaya.
The Managing Director, who also heads the gold cluster at Kuvimba Mining House (KMH), revealed that the parent company plans to inject US$40 million into its gold operations, which include Freda Rebecca Gold Mine, Shamva Mine, and Jena Mines. This strategic investment aims to ramp up production and optimize efficiency.
“In terms of capital expenditure for the year, for the cluster, we are looking at about US$40 million. That is the plan,” he stated.
“But not all of that capital expenditure is funded as yet. We have not secured the resources that we will need to implement all of those projects. A portion of it, I would say 50% of the capital expenditure, will come from internal cash flows, but we will need to raise the balance so that we can implement those projects.”
For the fiscal year ending March 2024, the group produced 104,000 ounces of gold and expects this figure to increase marginally by 1% to 105,000 ounces in the current year.