Pacific Goal Investments (Private) Limited (PGI) has formally assumed majority ownership and operational control of the Muchesu coal project in north-western Zimbabwe after securing registration from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), Mining Zimbabwe reports.
By Ryan Chigoche
The approval finalises the restructuring of a July 2024 agreement in which Huo Investments had undertaken to acquire a controlling stake in Monaf Investments, the entity holding the Muchesu mining licence, and commit up to US$20 million toward production expansion and infrastructure upgrades.
Those rights and obligations, including the US$20 million funding facility, were subsequently transferred to PGI.
PGI now holds 51 per cent of Monaf and is responsible for managing operations at Muchesu. Contango Holdings Plc retains a 24 per cent stake, with the remainder held by minority shareholders.
The structure safeguards Contango’s royalty position, which guarantees a minimum annual payment of US$2 million, while shifting operational execution to the new majority shareholder.
The RBZ registration is a critical compliance milestone in Zimbabwe’s mining sector, particularly where offshore-linked capital and funding facilities are involved. It provides regulatory certainty and effectively clears the path for capital deployment under the agreed financing framework.
“The board views these changes as an important step in aligning the project with a committed operator that has a meaningful in-country footprint, while preserving the company’s royalty and debt-repayment economics,” said Contango chairperson Gordon Thompson in a statement accompanying the company’s interim results for the six months to November 30, 2025.
Chief executive Daniel Dos Santos described the development as a structural evolution of the partnership.
“We view this as an important evolution in the partnership structure, introducing a group with an established operational footprint in Zimbabwe that is complementary to the long-term development of Muchesu,” he said.
Spanning over 19,000 hectares in the Mid-Zambezi Karoo Basin within the Hwange mining district, Muchesu hosts both thermal and coking coal resources.
Expansion plans include installing additional coke ovens to strengthen metallurgical coal processing capacity, a move expected to enhance value retention within the domestic coal value chain.
For Contango, the arrangement reflects a shift toward a royalty-backed exposure model, allowing the company to retain financial upside through structured payments while entrusting operational scaling to PGI.
The focus now shifts to execution, particularly whether the capital injection will translate into sustained production growth, expanded processing capacity, and a stronger position for Muchesu within Zimbabwe’s coal industry.
Beyond the ownership restructuring, the development carries broader implications for Zimbabwe’s energy security. Coal remains the backbone of thermal power generation at Hwange Power Station under ZESA Holdings.
If PGI executes the US$20 million expansion programme originally committed under the July 2024 agreement and later transferred during the restructuring, Muchesu could emerge as a stronger secondary coal supplier within the Hwange district, widening Zimbabwe’s coal supply base while reinforcing feedstock security for power generation and metallurgical processing.
With energy reliability remaining central to economic stability, the project’s trajectory now carries significance beyond its revised shareholding structure.
