Mining ZimbabweLatest Mining News, Policy and Industry Updates

THREE employees at a mine in Lalapanzi in the Midlands province ganged up and allegedly defrauded their employer, a Chinese investor, of more than US$163 000 after forging invoices showing purported payments to company suppliers and pocketing the money.

The two allegedly falsified invoices to steal US$54 168,43 from Bunday Technical Mining.

They also sold 1 212 tonnes of chrome concentrate worth US$$109 080, which was meant for export to China and converted the money to personal use.

The company lost US$163 248 in total.

The Chronicle

Incessant power cuts being experienced in the country weighed down on diversified resources group RioZim’s operations during the half year to June 30, despite arrangements to be exempt from power cuts. This, together with other economic challenges resulted in an 8 percent decline in gold output.

Industry wide, erratic power supplies have been blamed for low production as production time is severely lost to load shedding, a phenomenon also affecting the domestic consumers.

According to RioZim, its mining operations were severely affected by power cuts although the group is paying for electricity in foreign currency to guarantee uninterrupted supplies.

As a result, total gold output went down 8 percent to 962kg from 1 050kg achieved in the same period last year.

“Incessant power cuts, which commenced in the second quarter of the year significantly affected production. As a direct result of these power cuts, the Group, recorded a decrease in production,” said group chairman Saleem Rashid Beebeejaun in a statement accompanying financial results for the half year period under review.

At Dalny Mine acute power cuts were the order of the day in the second quarter of the year, which worsened during the month of June with the mine only afforded an average of four to six hours of plant running time per day.

As a result, production went down 7 percent to 215kg from 232kg recorded in the same period in 2018.

Renco Mine recorded a 28 percent decrease in gold production to 259kg on the back of severe power cuts in the second quarter of the year as well as plant breakdowns which reduced production processing time.

Its flagship, Cam & Motor Mine, however, recorded a 7 percent growth in gold production to 489kg, from 458kg achieved in the same period in 2018 on the back of processing of pure oxide ores with good grades and higher recoveries.

Apart from the power challenges, RioZim has indicated the company has now reverted to paying for almost everything in US dollars which is unsustainable in an economy already experiencing severe foreign currency shortages.

“This is impacting working capital, maintenance and expansion capital expenditure. In the absence of either being allowed to retain and use 100 percent of its export proceeds or raise and use US Dollars from shareholders, the company’s position will continue to be extremely challenging,” said Mr Beebeejaun.

Meanwhile, RioZim is in the process of constructing its Biological Oxidation (BIOX) plant to treat refractory ore at Cam & Motor Mine. Civil works for the project are in full swing and structural steel fabrications are in progress.

According to the group, key suppliers and contractors have also been appointed for the project whose commissioning is expected in the fourth quarter of 2020, depending on availability of foreign currency_Business Weekly

TWO mine workers have been arrested for allegedly robbing a Gwanda businessman of R27 400, $900, 35 grammes of gold and mercury after ambushing a taxi he had hired to take him home.

Lawrence Sibanda (30) from Nkayi and Pritchard Maphosa (27) from Silobela who both work at Danslok Blanket Mine attacked Mr Emmanuel Zvawanda while he was on his way to Gwanda from

Longvalle Farm on the outskirts of the mining town.

The pair is expected to appear in court on November 11 for robbery. They will proceed by way of summons pending further investigations.

According to State papers, Sibanda and Maphosa, who were armed with axes, ambushed a taxi which Mr Zvawanda and his wife Ms Thembelihle Ndlovu had hired to take them to Gwanda Town in the middle of the night.

Mr Zvawanda buys gold from artisanal miners in Longvalle Farm.

“On 27 September in the afternoon, Sibanda and Maphosa went to Mr Zvawanda’s tent at Longvalle Farm along Lumene River in Gwanda to collect a cellphone.

“They later went back at around 7PM under the pretext of inquiring about the price of gold from Mr Zvawanda and they later left.

“On the same day at around 9PM, Mr Zvawanda, who was in the company of his wife, Thembelihle Ndlovu, hired a taxi from Longvalle Farm to Gwanda Town.

“Sibanda and Maphosa connived to rob Mr Zvawanda and they ambushed the taxi after it had travelled for a distance of about one kilometre from the farm,” read the State papers.

Sibanda and Maphosa, who were allegedly both armed with axes, approached the car and smashed the windows of the vehicle demanding cash from the complainant.

Mr Zvawanda tried to resist but the pair severely assaulted him with stones and the axes they were holding.

“Mr Zvawanda’s wife managed to flee from the scene and when he also tried to escape he fell to the ground due to injuries he had sustained during the attack.

“Mr Zvawanda then surrendered a sling bag which he was carrying containing R27 400, RTGS$900, 35 grammes of gold, a digital scale, a cellphone, three teaspoons of mercury and a driver’s licence to Sibanda and Maphosa. The pair took the bag and disappeared into the bush.

“Mr Zvawanda was rushed to Gwanda Provincial Hospital where he was further referred to United Bulawayo Hospitals.
“He lost his left eye as a result of the attack. The matter was reported to the police resulting in the arrest of the pair on October 24,” read the State papers_The Chronicle

Thirty-seven years ago, Argentine soldiers invaded the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands, planting thousands of mines.

British troops liberated the locals then – and a few dozen Zimbabweans keep them safe now.

“There are over 100 minefields flung all across the Falkland Islands from Fox Bay, Port Howard, Goose Green, Fizroy, Stanley area, Longden, all over the place,” said John Hare, the technical director of SafeLane Global, which has been contracted by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office to clear the mines.

The Argentine army laid around 25 000 mines during its 74-day occupation of the remote British overseas territory in the South Atlantic.

For the past decade, expert Zimbabwean de-miners have been charged with clearing the fields. When the war ended in 1982, the Argentines handed over their records.

Since then, de-mining teams have undertaken the painstaking process of trawling through the documents, sourcing background information from locals and probing into minefields for evidence of potential explosives.  Only once that was done did the de-miners start clearing the explosive devices.

“The Zimbabwean de-miners are experts in this job. We’ve been doing this for quite a long time, most of us are in our 21st year doing this job,” Michael Madziva, the site supervisor, told AFP about his 100-person-strong team.

Back in 1999 a company called Bactec, which was one of several to later merge into SafeLane Global, was contracted to clear two million mines along the border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Local Zimbabweans were recruited and trained, and they have since become world-renowned for their expertise. “Since 2015, I’ve had basically the same group of deminers,” said Hare, who used to be a bomb disposal expert with the Royal Engineers.  “They’re… a really great group of guys to work with.” The Zimbabwean experts have been deployed all over the world – including to Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan, Eritrea, Croatia and Lebanon – to clear mines following devastating conflicts.  “What made them good de-miners is they love their job,” added Madziva.

There were originally 122 areas to clear on the islands, but there are only 11 to 12 left. The project, which began in 2009, is expected to finish by the end of next year, according to Guy Marot, who heads the Falkland Islands De-mining Service Program.

The group is currently working on a beach close to the capital Stanley, where Argentina expected British troops to land.

Instead, they arrived on the other side of the East Falkland island at San Carlos.

Once located by a huge digger that sifts through the sand, the mines are either disarmed on the spot and then transferred to a quarry to be burnt, or those that are too dangerous to move are destroyed on the spot by explosives. Thrilled to see snow Even though it’s a long way from home, some de-miners went on to settle in the Malvinas.  Jonas Muza (41) quit demining and moved to the islands in 2015. His wife Anna joined him a year later, and he’s expecting to bring his three daughters over next year.  “I liked it before even I came here. I liked the place because of the weather,” Muza told AFP. “I was thrilled to see snow for the first time.”  Anna, who works as a kitchen assistant in the de-miners’ group accommodation, wasn’t quite so enamoured.  “It’s very cold here,” she said, smiling. “I was shocked.”

De-miners work on the islands from September to June, but Muza wanted employment all year round, so he found work fitting tires instead.

“In demining, when the contract finishes, it’s obvious you are unemployed until another job comes your way. I didn’t like that. I wanted constant income so I can sustain my family,” said Muza.

Although his children – Nathalie (17), Keisha (11) and five-year-old Kiara – have been enrolled in school for the next year, Muza doesn’t see the Malvinas as a permanent home.

He’s building a nine-room house in Zimbabwe. “I will go back some point in the future,” he said. “Like they say, home calls you. East, west, south: home is home.” — AFP.

Asa Resources has concluded the sale of its controlling interest in Bindura Nickel Corporation (BNC), the country’s largest nickel producer said in a statement Tuesday.

BNC said the buyer of Asa’s controlling 74.13% stake is “a Zimbabwean based mining entity with interests in the mining and production of ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals and precious metals”.

While BNC does not disclose the buyer, reports have suggested that one of the leading bidders was Sotic International, a company linked to businessman Kuda Tagwireyi, who already holds interests in Africa Chrome Fields and has been involved in bids for ferrochrome producer Zimbabwe Alloys.

“Shareholders are referred to the Cautionary statement published on 1 October 2019 advising that the ultimate holding company of BNC, Asa Resource Group plc (currently under administration), has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with a third party in relation to the 74.73% shareholding in BNC,” BNC said in a cautionary.

“Shareholders are hereby informed that the transaction involving the sale of 74.73% of BNC’s issued shares to the above-mentioned third party has been successfully concluded.”

Landela Mining Venture, another subsidiary of Sotic International, has recently emerged as the local joint venture partner in Great Dyke Investment, the Russia-Zimbabwe platinum project being developed near Darwendale_NewZwire