Zimbabwe through President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa’s Open for Business Mantra has significantly attracted new mining projects from PGM, lithium, diamond, oil, and gas to mention a few. Great Dyke Investment’s (GDI) Darwendale platinum project’s performance in 2020 was promising and the miner is projected to record significant growth.
Rudairo Dickson Mapuranga
GDI is expected to become Zimbabwe’s next giant platinum mine and the project has been ahead of the schedule. The mine is expected to increase the country’s exports of Platinum Group of Metals in 2020.
The project has already spent US$100 MILLION to date including exploration costs. Reports have it that a significant amount of investment will now be needed if Great Dyke Investment, owned by Russia’s Vi Holding and Zimbabwean investors is to complete the $2 billion project.
The platinum project is expected to become Zimbabwe’s biggest platinum producer. When complete the project is expected to produce 860,000 ounces of platinum group metals and gold a year.
This means that the project will join South African companies Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd and Anglo-American Platinum Corp in producing the precious metal in the country.
The company is considering providing decent accommodation to police officers in Norton under a programme to construct 1 000 houses for its employees.
This year, the mine handed over blankets, kitchen utensils and various foodstuffs to nine families at Norton Police Station that lost property in a fire.
The project has been hailed by Zimbabweans across the political divide to with Norton Legislature Hon Temba Mliswa welcoming the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility in his constituency.
The project is expected to complete its 2nd box-cut in 2021 as well as to start construction of the concentrator, construction of the Tailings Storage Facility, construction of bulk surface infrastructure that includes power lines, water lines, road networks, and buildings and continuing with declining mining and development in both portals
Great Dyke Investment is expected to become a big player in assisting the mining sector to achieve the President’s vision for the industry achieving a US$12 BILLION earner by 2023 with contributions reaching 270000 of 4E Ounces production.
This article first appeared in the December 2020 issue of Mining Zimbabwe Magazine
