Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

Total Eren, a renewable energy Independent Power Producer (IPP) based in France and Chariot, the Africa-focused transitional energy company, are pleased to announce that, pursuant to the partnership entered into in November 2021, Total Eren and Chariot have agreed to work together on the development, financing, construction, and operation of a solar photovoltaic (PV) project that will provide competitive electricity for the Karo Platinum Project, in Zimbabwe.

The solar PV project is expected to have an initial installed capacity of 30 MWp with a potential extension of up to 300 MWp.

Total Eren and Karo Mining Holdings (“Karo”) previously signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as the first step towards implementation and signing of a long–term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for the supply of electricity. Karo and the Partners will now pursue the next steps of development of the PV project.

Fabienne Demol, Executive Vice–President & Global Head of Business Development of Total Eren, commented: “We are very pleased to partner again with Chariot on a new renewable energy project dedicated to the mining sector. Our solar project will enable the Karo Platinum Mine to be supplied in low carbon electricity during its operating life, therefore reducing its carbon footprint and generating a competitive source of electricity supply in Zimbabwe. I look forward to delivering this solar project and wish to start even more renewable energy projects in this country where our strategic shareholder, TotalEnergies, holds a strong footprint.”

Benoit Garrivier, Chariot Transitional Power CEO, added: “In partnering with Total Eren on this project, we advance towards our objective of delivering a 1 GW renewable energy pipeline and developing some of the largest sustainable power projects in Africa. We wish Karo all the best with their construction phase and look forward to implementing the solar plant build in due course.”

Bernard Pryor, MD of Karo Mining Holdings, declared: “As part of our sustainable development plan, green power was always placed at the forefront of our energy strategy. Land designated to develop this type of power strategy has been allocated, close to the Karo Mine but also being mindful of a broader power strategy that we will develop with our partners and the government of Zimbabwe, to ensure stable and lasting green energy benefitting all our stakeholders and beyond.”

Source: PV

Mines and Mining Development Minister Hon Winston Chitando will be officiating the Karo Resources Commencement of construction ceremony this morning.

Karo is gearing up for its open-pit platinum mining project in Ngezi.

Karo will design and construct fully integrated facilities to ensure the maximum extraction of value from mining, through the value chain to final Base Metal and Precious Metal refining.

Karo is currently set to have an annual PGM production of 194,000 oz (6E – platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, osmium and gold), and a mine life of 17 years and will add further to the fairly exclusive list of open pit platinum producers in southern Africa which includes Tharisa’s namesake mine, Anglo American’s Mogalakwena and SPM’s Pilanesberg Platinum Mines, all in South Africa. Currently, all the major platinum mines in Zimbabwe are underground, including Ngezi, Unki and Mimosa.

“Developing a tier one project in this unique geological setting comes once in a lifetime,” said Bernard Pryor, MD Karo Mining Holdings in a recent investor presentation on the project, which has seen over $70 million of investment to date but will ultimately cost over $390 million. The project is located on the Great Dyke, south of the Zimplats Selous Metallurgical Plant and north of the Zimplats Ngezi underground operations. It is in the Mashonaland West district of Zimbabwe, approximately 80 km southwest of Harare and 35 km southeast of Chegutu.

Development will take 24 months of a low-risk, fully licenced open pit. Phoevos Pouroulis, CEO of Tharisa, commented in the company’s FY22 results ending September 30: “We have advanced our position in Karo Platinum, which is on track to become the second world-class asset in our portfolio. The next major milestone is ‘ground-breaking’ at the Karo site in December 2022, as this PGM asset moves into the construction phase, with inaugural production planned for within the next 24 months.”

First Ore In Mill (FOIM) is scheduled for July 2024. The mining plan will target mining 2.1 Mt/y of run-of-mine material for the Phase 1 operations, at a grade of 3 g/t (5PGE+Au).  The mining operations will be undertaken by a mining contractor, which has already been appointed but not yet named. An owner’s mineral resource management team will be in place for oversight of the mining operations and grade control.  The mining operations will see the development of four open pits being developed sequentially, up to a maximum pit depth of 100 m over a total strike length greater than 20 km.

The processing of the ROM will be through an MF2 PGM flotation circuit, processing 175,000 t/mth of ROM.  The average annual production of PGMs in concentrate will be 150 kozpa (5PGE+Au).  The processing plant has been designed using proven technology and beneficiation processes. Primary crushing will reduce ROM to F80 -120 mm followed by secondary (F80 -40 mm) and tertiary (F80 -15 mm) cone crushing following by primary ball milling to F60 -75 micron followed by a bank of six primary rougher flotation cells and three high grade cleaner stages, thickening and filtration using a tower press filtration. Primary rougher flotation tails go to secondary ball milling (F80 -75 micron) then a bank of six secondary rougher cells and two low grade cleaner stages prior to the thickening and filtration. The long lead time items – including the two ball mills and the flotation cells have already been ordered.

Karo Mining Holdings (KMH) has been scouting for platinum mining and refining opportunities in Zimbabwe since 2009. In January 2014, the Government of Zimbabwe issued an expression of interest for companies to further develop PGM opportunities, to which Karo submitted an expression of interest.

KMH acquired its project concession area, measuring 23 903 ha, in March 2018 and entered into the Investment Framework Agreement with the Republic of Zimbabwe.

The project is located in the Mashonaland West province of Zimbabwe, approximately 80 km southwest of Harare and 35 km southeast of Chegutu.

A Mining Lease application was submitted to the Mining Affairs Board, where the tenure of the Mining Lease under the legislation is for the life of the mine. The Mining Lease was issued on 12 March 2021 and provides security of tenure.

Glencore has agreed to pay $180m to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to cover corruption allegations, the latest payment in a series of graft cases it has faced worldwide.

The Anglo-Swiss mining company said on Monday that the settlement with DRC covers “all present and future claims arising from any alleged acts of corruption” by the Glencore Group between 2007 and 2018.

It comes months after Glencore announced deals with authorities in the United States, Britain and Brazil to pay a total of $1.5bn to resolve all accusations of corruption and market manipulation.

The US Justice Department said in May that Glencore paid more than $100m to intermediaries over 10 years, “intending that a significant portion of these payments would be used to pay bribes to officials” in Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Brazil, Venezuela and Congo.

In DRC, Glencore acknowledged that it paid $27.5m to third parties with the goal that a portion be used to bribe Congolese officials to secure improper business advantages, according to the Justice Department.

“Glencore is a long-standing investor in the DRC and is pleased to have reached this Agreement to address the consequences of its past conduct,” Chairman Kalidas Madhavpeddi said in a statement on Monday.

The company “looks forward to continuing to work with the DRC authorities and other stakeholders to facilitate good governance and ethical business practices in the country,” he added.

Last month, a British court ordered Glencore to pay more than 280 million pounds ($341m) for using bribes to bolster its oil profits in five African countries.

It pleaded guilty in June after an investigation launched by the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office in 2019 found it paid bribes worth a combined $29m to gain access to oil in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and South Sudan.