Karo Platinum has announced a multi-pronged strategy to mitigate Zimbabwe’s chronic power shortages, including strengthening regional grid access and investing in renewable energy infrastructure to support its mining operations in Mashonaland West Province.
By Ryan Chigoche
The emerging platinum group metals (PGM) developer, a key player in Zimbabwe’s mining expansion drive, revealed its plans during a recent investor engagement ahead of the company’s upcoming bond listing on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange.
Zimbabwe’s mining sector, the country’s largest foreign currency earner, has been hit hard by persistent electricity shortages that have disrupted operations and delayed project timelines.
Despite ambitious targets under the government’s US$12 billion mining roadmap, power deficits—exacerbated by ageing infrastructure, drought-induced low hydroelectric output, and limited generation capacity—continue to undermine sector performance. Mining companies, particularly energy-intensive operations like platinum, chrome, and lithium producers, have been forced to invest in alternative power solutions to safeguard production and ensure long-term viability.
Karo Platinum, which is developing a major platinum group metals (PGM) project that is expected to produce approximately 200,000 ounces once operational, is among the firms taking proactive steps to secure a reliable energy supply.
The company has unveiled a hybrid power strategy that includes regional grid access and renewable energy investments to cushion its operations from Zimbabwe’s chronic power woes.
Karo Country Director Dr. Joe Zimba said the company has entered a power supply agreement with the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), which allows it to tap into electricity from the Selous substation, part of the wider Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).
“So we’ve got a power supply agreement with the ZETDC. To the extent that power is available, we’ll draw on that power. We’re going to get power from the Selous substation, which is part of the regional network of the Southern African Power Pool. From there, you can actually get power from Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia—you can get power from any of those countries coming to Selous.”
To reinforce energy reliability, Karo, in collaboration with Zimplats, is upgrading the Selous substation infrastructure by increasing transformer capacity to ensure sufficient redundancy and power stability for large-scale industrial use.
“What we’re going to do is increase the backbone of the Selous substation,” Dr. Zimba explained. “At the moment, it’s got two 300 MVA transformers. We’re going to put in an additional 175 MVA transformer. Zimplats is also putting in another one. So there’ll be four 175 MVA transformers. That gives you enough redundancy. When you run transformers, you don’t run them to the max, because if one of them is down, then you’re going to have some redundancy,” he added.
In addition, Karo is developing a 30 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant near its operations in Chegutu. The solar power project, which will be financed separately by a third-party investor, is expected to supply electricity to the mine and possibly contribute surplus power to the national grid.
“There’s some material that’s going along in terms of that. That will be financed separately by a third party,” Dr. Zimba noted. “But we obviously are a key part of that process.”
Zimbabwe’s peak electricity demand exceeds 2,000 MW, yet generation remains unstable, fluctuating between 1,000 MW and 1,400 MW due to capacity limitations at the Kariba South Hydro and Hwange thermal power stations.
These limitations have left most sectors of the economy vulnerable to load-shedding and erratic supply, despite the government’s efforts to stabilise the sector.
Karo’s energy strategy aligns with the government’s call for mining companies to invest in self-generation capacity as the sector scales up production targets under the US$12 billion mining economy roadmap.
