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The Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF) has descended on the Investing in Africa Mining Indaba in Cape Town armed with a restructured portfolio and a direct invitation to global capital, framing its participation as a decisive break from past models, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
The sovereign wealth fund’s Chief Investment Officer, Simba Chinyemba, confirmed the high-level delegation’s plans, stating their intent to pursue partnerships and project financing with a newly streamlined and focused corporate architecture.
“It’s not just the world, but Zimbabwe is also descending to the Mining Indaba,” Chinyemba said, emphasising the coordinated national effort. “If you are interested in investing in Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe is open for business. We will be there. Come, let us talk, and we will present the projects and the potential investments that are available in our country.”
This invitation follows the Fund’s landmark decision to dissolve its legacy holding structure, epitomised by Kuvimba Mining House, and reorganise its mining assets into five distinct, commodity-specific verticals. The move, described as the most significant strategic shift in Zimbabwe’s state-linked investment landscape in a decade, is designed to eliminate inefficiencies, sharpen management focus, and align with global best practices to attract investment.
Chinyemba explained that the delegation will showcase a mix of advanced and new ventures. “These projects, some of them we already have partners, but some of them we are looking for financing,” he noted. “We will be speaking to various investors who are interested in investing in Zimbabwe.”
Gone is the previous “spiderweb of various entities,” as Chinyemba termed it. In its place, MIF has established five dedicated verticals, each with appointed leadership:
- Mutapa Gold Resources, led by CEO Trevor Barnard
- Mutapa Base Metals, led by CEO Godwin Gambiza
- Mutapa Energy Minerals, led by CEO Innocent Rukweza
- Mutapa Platinum Group, led by CEO Munashe Shava
- Mutapa Frontier, dedicated to rare earths and strategic minerals (CEO to be announced)
“This is neither unique nor experimental,” Chinyemba stated, citing global giants like Rio Tinto and BHP. “It simply reflects how the world’s leading mining houses organise themselves to be effective, accountable, and aligned with long-term shareholder outcomes.”
The restructuring is the cornerstone of MIF’s 2026 FIRE strategy — Fix, Revive, Strengthen, and Extract value. By creating specialised verticals, the Fund aims to tailor capital allocation and technical oversight to the unique cycles of each commodity, from gold and platinum to lithium and coal.
To deepen engagement at Indaba, Mutapa will co-host a dedicated symposium with the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development. This side-event will drill down into specific sector opportunities.
“We will speak a lot more around the specific opportunities that are available in Zimbabwe,” Chinyemba added.
The combined presence of the restructured sovereign fund and the Ministry signals a coordinated national strategy to attract mining investment. The clear message is that the Mutapa Investment Fund now offers international partners a more transparent, focused, and professionally managed gateway to Zimbabwe’s mineral sector, which is pursuing ambitious growth under the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2).
The Fund’s final word to the global mining finance community was an unequivocal call to action: “So if you are an investor, see you in Cape Town next week.”
