Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has said it will rein in mines and processing operations that are exacerbating air pollution.

According to research, opencast mining contributes the highest atmospheric impact with emissions.

Hundreds of tonnes of rock are unearthed, moved, and crushed in mining operations significantly increasing the amount of dust and particulates in the air.

In addition, mine tailings, which may contain finely ground and even toxic waste, can become airborne. This air pollution can directly affect human health.

Statistical studies suggest a linkage between mining pollution and human disease and mortality.

EMA Matabeleland South provincial manager Mr Decent Ndlovu said the authority is concerned with air pollution which is beyond acceptable levels.
“When we measure air pollution at various operations and find that they’re not in compliance with the recommended standards, we compel them either through issuance of orders or continuous monitoring until they reach the required level.

“If they fail to comply, we go the other extreme and let the law take its course but we first issue orders to put in place abatement measures to reduce high levels of pollution. We’re concerned with any pollution.

“It should be controlled to come down to normal levels. If companies fail to comply, the law will not be spared. We have to apply the law,” said Mr Ndlovu.

He said equipment to measure air pollution is however centralised.

“Levels of pollution are not necessarily determined by what you see. We need to conduct tests to measure pollution levels. At times what we see may not be the real reflection of the extent of the pollution.

“Of late, a lot of mines have not been doing well in terms of pollution control measures although I can’t ascertain the level right now because we need to first measure the pollution levels using the appropriate equipment.

“We always need to do tests and determine the levels at which the pollution is happening,” said Mr Ndlovu.

Air pollution control measures involve planning and implementing a series of preventive and suppressive measures in addition to dust extraction systems.

Experts recommend various ways to combat pollution such as pollution control by trees, the tolerance of trees to different air pollutants and plant species useful for controlling pollution.

They say there is a need for wider application of dust control chemicals on haul roads and sustainable management of pollution can be achieved by the proper implementation of abatement measures.

Mining can pollute air and drinking water, harm wildlife and habitat, and permanently scarnatural landscapes. Modern mines as well as abandoned mines are responsible for significant environmental damage.

The Chronicle

ALTHOUGH Invictus Energy, the Australian firm scouring the earth for oil and gas in Zimbabwe’s Muzarabani area, says geological studies have shown the area holds significant potential to host hydro-carbons, it has remained cautiously optimistic, pointing out the chance of a commercial discovery is only 10 percent per each site drilled.

Results from further processing of geological data gathered by French oil giant, Mobil, in the early 1990’s and further primary data which Invictus collected and similarly used international experts to interpret, have shown encouraging potential for hydro-carbon deposits in the area, exploration drilling must still be undertaken to prove this.

After Mobil’s survey three decades ago, Invictus carried further studies when it conducted another seismic study (gathering sub-surface vibrations using modern equipment), which entailed much denser line spacing to pinpoint locations with the highest potential for petroleum.

With the study results showing strong potential that the area has what it takes to host petroleum deposits, excitement has been palpable at Invictus, more so within Government, given the implications of a commercial discovery on the fiscus, local area development, job creation, national energy security, export revenue and national economy.

Invictus plans to start exploration drilling in Muzarabani-Mbire around the end of June or early July this year at a cost of US$25 million. Mobilisation of British firm, Ezalo’s rig number 202, is scheduled to begin mid-May from Tanzania’s Songo Songo area where it is currently undertaking some contracted work.

Geo-Associates, Invictus Energy’s controlling shareholder, director Paul Chimbodza, told delegates in Muzarabani during a tour of the oil and gas site this week, arranged by the Australian firm’s board of directors (led by chairman Stuart Lake), senior Government officials and local traditional leaders that they were not sure yet if the area holds petroleum deposits or not.

He said Invictus, after refining the data gathered by Mobil and evaluating the data it collected through the seismic study it carried out in the area last year, the company made  the decision to proceed to exploration drilling based on the encouraging study findings.

“The information that we now have has said to us we must go ahead and drill (exploration wells). In the game of exploration, I want to emphasise the word “Exploration”. You win some, you lose some, but the important thing is, we are geologists and earth scientists, our job is to find what the good Lord has hidden underground there.

“And, if you do not explore, you do not find. So, it is our game, and thanks to Dr Stuart Lake and his team for making the funds available for us to embark on such a high risk exercise.

Where we are now is we have now signed up for a (drilling) rig that has been doing some work in Tanzania where they are also looking for hydro-carbons or oil and gas.

“The plan is for that rig to start mobilising from Tanzania, a place called Songo Songo on the 15th of May (2022). The rig will go on a barge on the waters and it will be brought down to Beira (Mozambique) and then from Beira, the rig will move by road and come down to Muzarabani – Mbire.

“The plan is for us to start drilling when the rig is on site. It is going to take us two to three weeks to rig it up and start the actual drilling, which we plan to start sometime late June or early July. At this stage the plan is for us to do two wells, these wells are quite deep wells,” he said.

The first well will be four kilometres deep and the second, shallower one, will be roughly two kilometre deep. Conventional borehole water wells get to 100 metres for the deepest ones, Chimbodza said.

“These two wells are going to be critical, the question that we always get asked is ‘Is the oil/gas present in the area?’) And when we tell people we do not know, they think we are not  telling the truth. Yes, we have got all these sophisticated equipment that we use, but the ultimate answer is actually in the drilling, which we hope to do in June or July.

“If we do find (oil or gas) there will be much more drilling to follow that, there could be more seismic work after drilling, where we do what we call appraisal of the basin. So, the two wells are exploration wells; anything that follows that is appraisal drilling.

“What will that do for the people that are gathered here? Most of them do not worry about the technicalities that we worry about. People want to know what this means for MbireMuzarabani.

“We always refer to this project (Muzarabani-Mbire oil and gas project) as a potential game changer, not only for Muzarabani or Mbire, but for Zimbabwe and the region.

“Once we have a commercial discovery our hope is that Zimbabwe can be energy sufficient as far as electricity is concerned. We know how our country has been battling with power cuts.

“With the Muzarabani-Mbire project being successful, it is very easy for us to be able to generate enough electricity, not only for the whole of Zimbabwe but probably pushing that into the region.

“We will be self-sufficient in terms of our fuels, but that’s the dream ahead of the work that we want to do in June and July. It is a very critical stage, a very costly stage.

“It will cost us in the region of about US$25 million to do these wells and the chances of success are about 10 percent, hence we spent a lot of time being so meticulous about where we must drill or where we are going to drill,” Chimbodza said.

Invictus chief executive, Scott MacMillan, said the company’s prospective area had potential to host 9,25 trillion cubic feet of gas and nearly 300 million barrels of condensate, essentially light oil. He said a trillion cubic feet of gas could generate 5oo megawatts for 20 years.

The company’s prospective area is considered probably the largest undrilled seismic structure onshore Africa. Invictus chairman Stuart Lake said the fact that chances of success were slim, was the reason the company had taken its time to refine geological data from Mobil and also invested in further evaluation studies to pick the right spots to drill.

Drilling results may show two kinds of success; commercial success where the quantities can be economically exploited and technical success where deposits are found to exist in quantities that are not sufficient to sustain commercial exploitation of the hydrocarbons.

Notably though, a dry hole; an exploratory or development well found to be incapable of producing either oil or gas in sufficient quantities to justify completion as an oil or gas well,  does not necessarily mean the end of oil and gas search for a particular basin.

Whether the well is a “duster”, dry hole, depends on many factors of the economic equation, including proximity to transport and processing infrastructures, local market conditions, expected completion costs, tax and investment recovery conditions of the jurisdiction and projected oil and gas prices during the productive life of the well.

MacMillan said in the event of a dry hole, Invictus would undertake technical evaluation to understand the reasons for the unproductive exploration, which may entail determining if the area is completely devoid of potential to host hydrocarbons or whether the area proves to be holding petroleum deposits, but a richer target should be located and explored further.

As such, a dry hole does not necessarily result or call for a basin to be abandoned. For instance, Dr Lake said Namibia eventually made commercial discovery after initially drilling 30 dry holes while South Africa achieved success following earlier dry holes number a staggering 200.

TotalEnergies has made a significant discovery of light oil with associated gas on the Venus prospect, located in block 2913B in the Orange Basin, offshore southern Namibia. Similarly, Total has made a significant gas condensate discovery on the Brulpadda prospects, 175 kilometers off the southern coast of South Africa

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Business Weekly

The Affirmative Action Group (AAG) presidium has been dissolved with immediate effect with the country’s biggest gold buyer Pedzisai Scott Sakupwanya now the new president taking over from Mr Mike Chimombe, AAG founding president Dr Phillip Chiyangwa has announced.

Addressing the media today, Dr Chiyangwa said the decision to dissolve the presidium was meant to strengthen and augment the zeal to empower the organisation.

He said all other structures in Zimbabwe and internationally remain intact with AAG remaining as an affiliate of the ruling Zanu PF party.

Invictus Energy has secured a deal that expands its exploration area seven-fold, and the company is moving into a critical phase; a production sharing agreement with government.

The company’s SG 4571 licence area will expand from 100,000 hectares to 709,300 hectares. The concession gives Invictus the right to explore across the entire Cabora Basa basin.

“The enlarged SG 4571 licence provides us with a basin master position encompassing the entire Cabora Bassa Basin in Zimbabwe. Subject to making an opening discovery with one of our first two wells, it potentially could provide us with future discoveries on a large scale within the basin,” Invictus MD Scot Macmillan says.

While survey data has shown the potential of oil or gas in the area, only the drilling of wells can confirm this. Invictus plans to start drilling exploration wells in Muzarabani in June.

Production sharing: what’s at stake?

Government and Invictus are currently discussing a production sharing agreement, and Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube says they hope to sign it by the end of April and have the legal changes needed approved by Parliament in July.

Invictus is represented in the talks by its 80%-owned local partner Geo Associates, while Zimbabwe’s interests are held by the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Zimbabwe (SWFZ).

A production sharing agreement sets out how revenue and output are shared between the government and Invictus, should the company discover commercially viable deposits of gas or oil.

Already, the two sides have agreed that SWFZ will be granted a 10% back-in-right within six months of a final investment decision being made to go ahead with any commercial development. A back-in-right contract allows the government to take up shares in the operation once a commercial discovery has been made.

Under such agreements, investors like Invictus raise their own money and take the risk for exploration and development. Should they find commercial deposits, they are given a period to sell the output to recoup those costs, before sharing with government.

“The PSA is basically where you have agreed with the government, how much government gets, and how much the contractor gets, and that is in advanced negotiations,” according to Invictus chairman Stuart Lake.

He said in an interview with ZTN: “What we’ve shared with the government so far is all the examples that have happened in the region; what worked and what didn’t work for various companies. They (government) have gone outside to a variety of very learned individuals to get good feedback about, ‘is that correct or otherwise’. They got their own feedback, so we’re getting close to getting that progressed.” NewZwire

IMPALA Platinum Group company Zimplats has posted a 32% year-on-year decrease in net profit to $170.68-million for the six months ended December 31, 2021, compared with a net profit of $250.61-million for the six months ended December 31, 2020.

The results were impacted by net foreign currency exchange losses of $21.8-million arising mainly on Zimbabwean dollar-denominated monetary assets owing to the depreciation of the Zimbabwean dollar.

Further, revenue of $585-million was 13% lower year-on-year largely owing to negative revenue from movements in commodity prices arising on pipeline sales following the decrease in average metal prices compared with the second half of the previous financial year.

Consequently, the gross profit margin was 50%, compared with 56% in the prior comparable period.

Zimplats generated net cash inflows from operating activities of $261.3-million.

A dividend of $120-million has been declared for the interim period.

Meanwhile, tonnes of ore mined decreased by 5% year-on-year to 3.5-million tonnes, mainly as a result of production disruptions at the Mupfuti mine during a changeover of the trackless mining equipment service provider. The changeover has now been completed.

Tonnes milled was unchanged from the prior interim period’s 3.4-million tonnes.

Platinum, palladium, rhodium, gold, ruthenium and iridium (6E) mill head grade, at 2.42 g/t, was 2% lower than the prior comparable period owing to a higher contribution of ore from lower-grade mines.

6E production decreased by 2% to 282 829 oz, driven by the drop in 6E head grade.

In terms of Zimplats’ capital investment programmes, the redevelopment of Bimha mine was completed within budget at $99.8-million.

The upgrade of the Mupani mine is on schedule, with earthworks for the dome and load out station complete.

Upgrading of Bimha is progressing well, targeting 3.1-million tonnes yearly in the first quarter of full-year 2024.

Meanwhile, a bankable feasibility study for the refurbishment of the mothballed base metal refinery at SMC is ongoing, targeting completion by the end of the financial year.

Further, a bankable feasibility study for a proposed 185 MW solar project has been completed and an independent power producer’s licence issued by the regulator.

Zimplats anticipates a sustainably good operating environmental and continued enforcement of Covid-19 protocols moving forward.

NewZimbabwe

 Zimbabwe’s largest diamond miner, the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), aims to increase its annual production to over 5 million carats from 4.1 million carats last year.

Other diamond mining companies, including Anjin, a Zimbabwe-China joint venture and Murowa, have also embarked on a drive to expand production, Mines Minister Winston Chitando said on Thursday.

“There is strong growth taking place in the diamond sector, ZCDC had record production last year, they produced 4.1 million carats from a base of about 1.8 million carats in 2017 and this year their target is to produce over 5 million carats so they are doing very well,” Chitando said.

The ZCDC, Anjin, Murowa and Russian-owned Alrosa are the four companies licensed to mine diamonds in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe’s diamond industry is expected to contribute at least 1 billion U.S. dollars to the government’s ambition to extract minerals worth 12 billion dollars as part of an overall plan to transform the country into an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.

Under the envisaged mining roadmap, gold is expected to contribute 4 billion dollars, platinum 3 billion dollars, while chrome, iron, steel and coal will contribute 1 billion dollars.

In 2021, Zimbabwe’s mineral exports reached 5.7 billion dollars, a huge leap from 3.2 billion dollars recorded the previous year.

The mineral-rich southern African country sees the mining sector as the main driver for economic growth.

NewZimbabwe