Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

TWO illegal gold panners died in separate mine accidents in Matabeleland South Province, police have confirmed.

Acting Matabeleland South provincial police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Thabani Mkhwananzi said the incidents occurred on Friday and Saturday at Bolo Mine and Bina Mine in Gwanda.

“I can confirm that we recorded two mine accidents that occurred at Bolo Mine and Bina Mine in Gwanda. In the first incident, Lenin Nyoni (42) was illegally panning at a disused mine shaft which is 20 metres deep. While he was inside the shaft collapsed trapping him inside.

“Nyoni called out for help and other panners who were in vicinity pulled him out. He was ferried to the Gwanda Provincial Hospital where he was pronounced dead upon arrival,” he said.

Asst Insp Mkhwananzi said in the second incident an illegal gold panner died after he was struck by rocks while working in a shaft in Bina Mine area in Gwanda.

He said the now deceased Cleopas Ndlovu (32) from Spitzkop North in Gwanda was working with two others when the shaft collapsed and rocks fell on him.

“I can confirm that we recorded a sudden death case which occurred in Bina Mine area. The now deceased was illegally panning for gold with his two counterparts. They went down into a three-metre deep and while they were working in it the shaft collapsed and some rocks fell on Ndlovu’s back and head.

“His colleagues managed to pull him out of the shaft and he was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead upon arrival,” he said.

Asst Insp Mkhwananzi urged members of the public to desist from engaging in illegal gold panning activities as they were endangering their lives.

He said the province continued to record fatal mine accidents, most of them as a result of negligence.

“As police, we would like to urge people to desist from engaging in illegal mining activities, those who wish to engage in mining activities should regularise their operations. People should also stay away from disused and closed mines as they will be endangering their lives.

“We further urge mine owners and managers to ensure that their workers have safety clothing at all times. The equipment also needs to be frequently assessed to ensure that it’s in good condition. It’s imperative that miners operate in safe environments with the necessary precautionary measures,” he said.

The Chronicle

PADENGA Holdings’ mining operation, Dallaglio will be the most immediate beneficiary of a planned listing on the underachieving Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX), Inter Horizon Securities (IHS) said at the weekend, giving the deal the thumps up.

In a commentary released hours after, Padenga said it would seek a shareholder nod to de-list from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and move to VFEX, IHS said the strategy would open pathways for Dallaglio to pounce on new gold assets and position itself to benefit from attractive forex retention thresholds announced last month.

The thresholds present growth opportunities for gold miners and VFEX-listed firms.

Padenga swooped on Dallaglio about two years ago, as it diversified from its traditional crocodile skin processing business into gold mining in a surprise move.

Through Dallaglio, Padenga gained a foothold on Eureka Gold Mine, which returns to production next month following a US$40 million injection to restart production.

The transaction also gave Padenga access to Chegutu-based Pickstone Mine, a 60kg per month gold asset.

“We see potential for growth pathway particularly in Dallaglio via acquisitions within the gold space motivated by the new incentives articulated by the Finance and Economic Development ministry and in the short-term an uplift in earnings caused by a higher effective real gold price achieved based on greater foreign currency retention.

“The listing on the VFEX enables shareholders to unlock a real United States dollar valuation of the business, with capital gains and dividends realisable in hard currency. Downside risk is liquidity on the VFEX itself which may potentially create an initial discount on valuation, we, however, believe this will resolve itself in the medium term as other assets migrate to the VFEX deepening the available asset base and attraction levels,” noted IH.

Following its much hyped opening in October last year, VFEX has struggled to attract listings.

Seed Co International, which listed on the first day, remains the only counter eight months on.

But Caledonia Mining Corporation, the major shareholder of Gwanda-based Blanket Mine, has indicated that it is looking at the possibility of listing on the new bourse, while CBZ, the country’s biggest banking group, could also be headed to the waterfall.

Exporters, including miners, are currently allowed to keep 60% of their forex in hard currency, while 40% is sold to Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe at the official exchange rate.

In May, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube said miners, who produced above their monthly average, could retain 80% of their incremental portion.

Firms listed on the VFEX can retain 100% of the incremental portion.

An extraordinary general meeting will be held on July 2, 2021, seeking shareholder nod.

On Friday Padenga said the move had been precipitated by the need to benefit from the incentives articulated by the Finance and Economic Development minister, noting that the move had not been initiated by its shareholders.

“The VFEX will allow Padenga to raise capital in foreign currency from a wider and deeper potential market, to expand existing business, acquire or establish new business and fund acquisitions for both the company and its gold mining subsidiary, Dallaglio Investments,” Padenga added.

Padenga’s financial statement for the year ended December 31, 2020 showed that its mining portfolio accounted for most of its earnings.

Its plan to list on the VFEX is further signal that the company sees Dallaglio as a key driver of its future, one analyst said on Friday.

Revenue from mining was US$40,4 million, making up 57% of the company’s revenue.

Dallaglio posted a profit of US$7,1 million during the review period.

NewsDay

ELECTRICITY tariffs will continue to be reviewed in line with inflation and exchange rate movements until they reflect the cost of production, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Last month, Zesa effected a 30 percent power tariff hike for its prepaid customers, with the cost of the 200-unit package used by many households rising from $870 to $1 127.

The power utility has struggled to fund power imports, retain experienced staff and service its distribution infrastructure owing to sub-economic tariffs.

Energy and Power Development Minister Zhemu Soda told The Sunday Mail recently that cheap electricity was no longer guaranteed.

“In order for us to achieve what we are envisioning, that is to provide adequate power and sustainable electricity, there is a need for tariffs to be reviewed regularly,” said Minister Soda.

“It is also imperative that power be sold at cost reflective tariffs, that way the producer is able to continue to offer and improve on the service delivery.”

He said charging sub-economic tariffs will result in a continuous decline in both quantity and quality of service.

“Movements in the exchange rate and inflation will continue to threaten the power utility’s viability if tariffs are not raised,” said Minister Soda.

“The long term effect being failure to maintain the grid.

“We cannot guarantee the nation of cheap electricity when it is not sustainable.”

In October 2019, Government introduced a tariff indexation formula that aligns power tariffs to movements in inflation and the exchange rate.

Under the system, tariffs are supposed to be adjusted periodically each time inflation and exchange rates move by more than 10 percent.

“The current reviews are a result of an approval granted in October 2019 whereby the utility has to adjust the electricity tariff based on the movements in exchange rate and inflation.

“This was aimed at ensuring that tariffs reflect generation, import and distribution costs in order to prevent Zesa from returning to the days when it could not afford to buy coal, pay for imports, maintain its power stations or repair faults.

“The recent tariff increase will help improve the power utility’s viability and ensure operational stability of the Zesa although not to the level expected,” said Minister Soda.

Zesa currently imports power from South Africa and Mozambique.

Minister Soda said the Hwange Thermal Power Station, which is operating with four out of six generation units, was producing 440MW.

Two units at the power station are undergoing maintenance work.

“Kariba Power Station is producing almost 1 050 MW and if we add all that with generation from other small plants with capacities around 30 MW, we will have about 1500MW.

“As a country we need power generation above 1 500 MW in order to have stable electricity,” said the Minister.

The recent tariff adjustment will witness pre-paid consumers paying $ 2,25 per kWh for the first the 50 units, $ 4,51 for the next 150 units and $ 7,89 for the next 201-300 units.

Power units above 400 will now be charged at $13,50.

All prices include the Rural Electrification Levy of 6 percent.

Meanwhile, a fault at one of Hwange’s power generation units has been causing erratic power supply over the last two weeks.

The fault has resulted in load curtailment of about 200 MW during the evening peak period.

The Sunday Mail

African countries, Zimbabwe included, continue to be haunted by the “resource curse” over failure to use their mineral wealth to transform their economies.

They are among resource-rich countries that have seemingly failed to leverage on mining through beneficiation and value addition.

Value adding mineral resources involves processing them into semi-processed and processed form.

Despite having more than 40 mineral resources, the country still faces foreign currency shortages.

This has increasingly led to calls for beneficiation and value addition.

The country is home to the world’s second largest platinum group metals (PGMs) and chrome deposits after South Africa. It has a high gold yield per square kilometre, huge deposits of iron ore, nickel, copper, lithium and possibly oil and gas.

It also has a huge and highly diversified mineral resource base dominated by two prominent geological features, namely the Great Dyke and ancient Greenstone Belts also known as Gold Belts.

Mining already contributes 60 percent of the country’s total exports, accounts for 16 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and an estimated 6 percent to 10 percent of total formal employment.

Government, however, believes the sector is still expected to drive growth in the short to medium term.

The African Union (AU) came up with a policy framework in 2009  —  Africa Mining Vision — for the continent to optimally exploit and benefit from its minerals.

President Mnangagwa also recently challenged local mining firms to start pursuing strategies to beneficiate and value add minerals.

Addressing the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe annual general meeting (AGM) in Victoria Falls, the President said realising the full potential in mining could materially transform the economy and create the much-needed employment opportunities.

“Guided by the Africa Mining Vision and National Development Strategy 1 targets, the sector is challenged to ensure equitable and inclusive broad-based development through enhanced beneficiation of our mineral endowments,” he said.

Government plans to grow the sector to a US$12 billion industry by 2023.

“This would augment the industrial development focus on value addition and beneficiation, export-led industrialisation and job creation among other things. Execution of commitments for the establishment of beneficiation plants should be urgently pursued,” the President said, adding that he had noted efforts by players in platinum, chrome and lithium.

The AU’s Agenda 2063, which encapsulates  Africa Mining Vision, advocates resource-based industrialisation.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube believes mining companies should concentrate on adding value to minerals rather than ship predominantly raw exports.

Treasury estimates the sector would grow more than the targeted average growth of 5,2 percent over the course of NDS1, which runs for five years through 2025.

“Mining is the largest foreign-currency earner (circa US$3,2 billion), but we also want to make sure that it moves away convincingly from just extraction to value addition and that job creation and export growth are further enhanced,” said Prof Ncube.

It is believed that Government still needs a policy framework that uses the carrot-and-stick approach to ensure that value addition and beneficiation are expeditiously pursed.

A study by economic think tank the Zimbabwe Economic Policy Analysis and Research Unit (ZEPARU) showed that while a number of mines have responded, many others are still far behind.

Government’s policy position on mineral beneficiation and value addition, ZEPARU added, is aligned with the regional and continental initiatives.

“The Government of Zimbabwe prioritises beneficiation of diamonds, chrome, platinum group metals (PGMs), nickel and coal-bed methane (among others),” it said in its study.

“Zimbabwe has not fully exploited these mineral resources for growth and development, a case which is sometimes argued as resource curse.”

The country is still characterised by a high dependency on exports of unprocessed or semi-processed mineral products, which results in the country being a price-taker, ZEPARU said.

“The decline in commodity prices negatively affects revenue, which ultimately impacts on Government planning.

“However, it is common knowledge that the prices of value-added metal products such as jewellery, electronic products, etcetera, seldom fall in response to the drop in the prices of gold, platinum or related metals from which the products are made . . .

“The fact that 60 percent of world trade is in intermediate products strengthens the case for value addition and beneficiation in Zimbabwe, hence the need to move away from export of raw and semi-processed minerals.”

The Sunday Mail

FORMER workers at Shabanie Mashaba Mines in Zvishavane are accusing the company of being unfair to them after they were made to pay high amounts of money for houses in high density areas while management allegedly paid less for houses in low-density areas.

The workers were meant to benefit from the housing scheme as part their exit packages after the company went for years without paying salaries. The mine’s management is further accused of having gone against an agreement that was made with its workers by selling part of the land to outside institutions.

In an interview with Sunday News, Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers general secretary Mr Justice Chinhema revealed that the SMM management evicted about 100 workers from company houses and went on to sell the properties to institutions like Midlands State University and Great Zimbabwe University.

“Employees were supposed to be charged differently depending on the areas they reside in. However, those staying in high-density areas were now required to pay higher rates than those who reside in the low-density areas. Houses from the high density, for example, Mandava, Maglas, and Kadondo became so expensive as they range from US$15 to US$25 per square meter, and in low-density areas like in Hillview, Noevale and Birthday the prices were ranging around US$10 per square meter, and this is where the majority of the top management used to stay,” said Mr Chinhema.

He said for workers who had retired from the mine, management directed that rentals start to accrue from the date of retirement, a situation that resulted in some of them being evicted from the houses, yet they were not being paid salaries.

“There is no explanation how an employee suddenly becomes a tenant in a company house which saves to benefit the workers. l believe this has been done to make sure the poor workers end up owing the mine. For instance, where would a retired worker get the balances ranging from even US$2 000 up to above US$20 000? This is being done to push out workers to accommodate outsiders,” said Mr Chinhema.

SMM former administrator Mr Afaras Gwaradzimba, who was in office when most of the deals took place said the issue had already been dealt with above board.

“The properties which we sold to these institutions were as per the Government order,” said Mr Gwaradzimba.

The Sunday News

Zimbabwe’s platinum miners will engage a consultant to give advice on the establishment of a base metal refinery by 2025 and a precious metal refinery by 2027 to process platinum from all the country’s platinum mines.

The platinum miners—Zimplats, Mimosa Mining Company and Unki — have a strong plan to jointly develop a base-metal refinery in the country. The plan has been under consideration since 2014.

The miners agreed at last week’s Chamber of Mines Zimbabwe conference to engage a consultant to come up with a road map, according to Mines and Mining Development minister Winston Chitando.

“In the meeting, there were various issues addressed around enablers for the refinery construction and I can assure you that those enablers will be addressed for work to go forward. It was also agreed that a consultant be engaged to come up with a roadmap that will culminate in the construction of a base metal refinery,” Chitando said.

In 2017, Zimbabwe signed an agreement with Australia’s Kelltech Limited, to construct a US$200m platinum refinery for platinum miners.

Zimbabwe has the second largest known deposits of platinum after South Africa and has been pushing mining firms operating in the country to build refineries to stop the export of raw platinum ore.

In 2015, the government imposed a 15% tax on raw platinum ore exports to force companies to process locally but suspended the levy after the miners agreed to support local platinum processing.

The establishment of a platinum refinery has become even more urgent considering that mining is expected to anchor economic growth  under the National Development Strategy 1 which charts policies, institutional reforms and national priorities needed from 2021-2025 to achieve an upper middle income economy under Vision 2030.

According to Chitando, the platinum sector is expected to exceed US$3bn revenue by 2021 driven mainly by increased production and the coming on board of new players.

Great Dyke Investments and Bravura platinum mining are expected to resume production which will play a critical role in achieving the 2022 platinum revenue target.

Business Times