Mutapa Gold Resources-owned Bindura-based miner, Freda Rebecca, produced a record 240 kilograms of gold in March, a monthly high, according to Chief Executive Officer Patrick Maseva-Shayawabaya.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
The output marks a recovery after operational problems at Freda Rebecca and Shamva mines curtailed production in the first half of the prior period. March falls in the first quarter of Mutapa Gold’s new financial year, which now ends on December 31 after the company changed its year-end from March 31.
“We’ve started the year well,” Maseva-Shayawabaya said in an interview with Mining Zimbabwe. “Freda had a record production of 240 kg.”
Freda Rebecca accounts for about 70% of Mutapa Gold’s total output, with Shamva Gold Mine contributing 20% and Jena 10%.
For the 12 months through March 2026, a period no longer aligned with the company’s financial year, total gold production fell to 3,255 kg (104,000 ounces) from 3,600 kg (116,000 ounces) a year earlier, the CEO said. The decline was “principally because we had great problems at both Freda and Shamva for about six months.”
Jena, which has higher ore grades of 3–4 grams per tonne versus 1.4–1.6 at Freda and Shamva, is on track to exceed 40 kg this month after a US$2 million plant upgrade last year, Maseva-Shayawabaya said.
Mutapa Gold Resources is a wholly owned unit of Zimbabwe’s sovereign wealth fund, the Mutapa Investment Fund. The company plans to triple annual output to 300,000 ounces within six years through a US$200 million investment programme focused on Shamva and Jena.
Maseva-Shayawabaya became CEO on May 1, succeeding Trevor Barnard. He previously served as Chief Financial Officer of Mutapa Gold and Managing Director of Freda Rebecca.
