Victoria Falls Stock Exchange-listed miner Kavango Resources produced 23.4kg of gold from its Hillside Project in the year to December 2025, reflecting a transitional operating model that still leans heavily on artisanal mining while laying the groundwork for scale, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Ryan Chigoche
Production during the year was largely underpinned by third-party material, with artisanal ore accounting for the bulk of output, complemented by smaller contributions from company-mined ore at Bill’s Luck Mine and reprocessing of residual sands.
The production profile highlights the current structure at Hillside: a hybrid system where Kavango processes a mix of its own ore and material sourced from small-scale miners, capturing additional value through downstream treatment of sands.
Attention is now shifting towards scaling up operations at Bill’s Luck Mine, which management sees as central to future production growth.
“At Bill’s Luck, following publication of the preliminary JORC Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) in February 2026, Kavango is evaluating an increase in processing capacity and is focused on commissioning its 50 tonne-per-day (tpd) pilot carbon-in-pulp (CIP) gold processing plant, expected in Q2 2026. The team is now working on a scoping study to upgrade the plant to 250 t/d,” said Peter Wynter Bee, the current Chairman and Interim Chief Executive.
The forward plan signals a shift towards greater operational control, with Bill’s Luck expected to anchor future ore supply as Kavango builds out its own mining base.
At present, processing capacity remains relatively limited, centred on stamp milling and supplementary circuits inherited with the project. These facilities have enabled steady, if modest, production, but also constrain throughput and recovery efficiency.
The commissioning of a dedicated processing plant is expected to mark a turning point. The initial 50 tonne-per-day CIP unit, scheduled to come online in the second quarter of 2026, will introduce a continuous processing circuit, positioning the company to move beyond intermittent, small-scale recovery.
From there, the focus shifts to scale. Internal studies are already examining an expansion to 250 tonnes per day, a level that would materially increase output and begin to reposition Hillside as a more consistent gold producer.
Delivering that growth will depend on securing reliable feedstock.
Development work at Bill’s Luck is advancing to support this, with efforts focused on opening up deeper sections of the mine and preparing for sustained stoping.
In parallel, Kavango is assessing additional sources of ore within the broader licence area to supplement supply as throughput increases.
Geology remains a key part of the investment case. Bill’s Luck is a historically producing asset with structurally controlled mineralisation, and current work is aimed at better defining the resource and identifying extensions that could support longer-term mining.
The wider Hillside Project, which covers a significant portion of the Filabusi Greenstone Belt, provides further exploration upside, although the immediate priority remains converting existing resources into production.
While the 2025 output is modest, it marks an operational foothold and also provides a base from which Kavango is now looking to scale, shifting from a reliance on artisanal throughput towards a more conventional mining and processing model anchored on its own assets.
