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Kavango Resources is positioning the historic Nara gold mine for a major comeback, with early observations suggesting the potential to process high-grade ore ranging between 5 and 20 grams per tonne (g/t). This became clear during the new General Manager Everjoy Ngomatiti’s recent tour of the mine, which brought senior management face-to-face with both the site’s promise and its challenges.
By Ryan Chigoche
During the tour of the Killarney shaft — a key part of the Nara project — Kavango executives outlined their technical vision for reviving the mine, located within Zimbabwe’s historically rich Filabusi greenstone belt. The shaft, once mined down to the seventh level, is now flooded from levels five through seven. However, its historical production of approximately 20,000 ounces between 1938 and 1959 offers a solid foundation for redevelopment.
“Looking at the history of this mine as well, they mined about 20,000 ounces between 1938 and 1959. And we also don’t have the other data, but from the look of things, we’re talking of grades ranging between five grams per tonne to 20 grams per tonne, with the reef, which is like 20 centimeters to up to 1.5 meters wide. So there’s lots of potential. I believe there’s potential. Of course, we still need to come in and do the drilling, get more geological data, but there’s lots of potential here,” Ngomatiti said.
This would be a significant achievement, especially considering that one of the country’s biggest miners, Freda Rebecca, currently processes ore with a grade of around 1.55 grams per tonne.
Kavango believes the Nara project area may host up to four kilometres of gold-bearing strike. Identifying and proving up the first mineable resource along this corridor is now a priority.
“So, looking at the entire project area, we believe we have up to four kilometers of strike stretching from the west of the ground to the east behind us. So one of the key objectives that Everjoy and I have been looking at for the first time today is how we can build up our first mineable resource to deploy our exploration team here with that specific objective in mind,” Kavango CEO Ben Turney added.
The recent site visit marked the first time that Kavango’s new General Manager, Everjoy Ngomatiti, toured the mine since assuming office just a fortnight ago. CEO Ben Turney personally accompanied him on the ground inspection of the historic Killarney shaft. Despite the flooding challenges, the company sees significant underground development opportunities. Preliminary drill tests have been completed, with results expected soon.
With Everjoy at the helm, Kavango’s underground development plan involves a phased rollout using spiral declines, requiring approximately 400 metres of strike length per section. The company intends to define, model, and control an initial 400-metre block before opening a portal, then proceed incrementally in similar-sized segments.
Reflecting on the aging infrastructure and the way forward, Kavango’s General Manager Everjoy Ngomatiti outlined the company’s focus on three key pillars: modernization, productivity, and efficiency.
He explained that improving efficiency will require modernizing the existing headgear to a larger, more productive, and more efficient design. Additionally, Ngomatiti noted that the current processing facilities rely on outdated milling techniques, and Kavango plans to replace these with more advanced carbon-in-pulp (CIP) and carbon-in-leach (CIL) plants to enhance processing performance.
He also highlighted the site’s strong gold potential, drawing from both its historical production records and recent geological assessments.
Kavango recently secured financial backing from Purebond to support the development of Nara. The site now joins the company’s growing Zimbabwean portfolio, which also includes the Hillside gold project. However, Nara is being described internally as a flagship asset due to its scale and near-term potential.
“This is the biggest project in Kavango’s portfolio. Nara is much larger than Hillside. It’s taken us longer to exercise the Nara option simply because we’ve needed to do much more work here,” Turney said. “But over the coming months, we’ll be putting out a series of announcements, providing the market and our shareholders with the data that we’ve gathered and the interpretation. We’re really excited to be here now today. It’s excellent that Purebond has given us the finances to be able to exercise this option. And with Everjoy now on the team, working with the rest of our people that we’ve recruited, we really can’t wait to get stuck into this project,” Turney said.
