Zimbabwe, a country with plenteousness of minerals
ZIMBABWE is home to 60 different types of minerals, 40 of which have been traditionally exploited to varying degrees.
Platinum group metals (PGMs), chrome, gold, coal, and diamonds are the main minerals. Other minerals found in the country include gemstones, granite, manganese, lithium, asbestos, iron ore, copper, nickel, cobalt, limestone, coal-bed methane (CBM) and rare earth minerals.
With over 2,8 billion tons of PGM and 10 billion tonnes of chromium ore, the nation has the second-largest platinum deposit and high-grade chromium ores in the world. Approximately 12% of the nation’s gross domestic product is made up by this sector (GDP).
The government estimates that by 2023, the industry will have the capacity to produce US$12 billion annually. However, analysts have cautioned that this is anticipated to occur if only the government addresses issues including ongoing power outages, a lack of foreign currency, and policy uncertainty.
Low foreign exchange retention requirements have presented difficulties for mineral exporters, especially when the black-market exchange rate significantly deviated from the official rate and encouraged smuggling.
According to Mthuli Ncube, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, the mining industry was predicted to grow by 10% in 2022, up from the mid-year prediction of 9,5%. This is primarily caused by the anticipated rise in the production of coal, PGMs, chrome, nickel, diamond, and gold, which is supported by record-high global commodity prices and increased investments in the industry.
The prognosis predicts that the mining industry would expand by 10,4% in 2023, supported by expected high worldwide mineral prices and an increase in investments, particularly in exploration, mine development, and mechanization.
Due to new mining activities that are currently being explored, the sector is anticipated to continue growing in the medium term, until 2025.
Gold, PGMs, chromium, coal, diamonds, lithium, nickel, black granite, copper, silver, and asbestos are the most mined minerals in Zimbabwe.
Below, we briefly examine them.
Gold
One of the most mined minerals in Zimbabwe is gold. According to the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, gold has been mined and explored in Zimbabwe since ancient times. From the seventh century until the introduction of mechanized mining techniques with the arrival of Europeans about a century ago, it is estimated that a third (or about 700 tonnes) of all historical gold production was mined locally.
According to the Ministry, there are more than 4000 documented gold deposits, almost all of which are situated on historic workings.
Due to new mining ventures, prompt payments, and incentives for miners, Zimbabwe’s gold output increased to a new record high of 35,38 tonnes in 2022.
Statistics from Fidelity Gold Refinery, the only buyer of gold in the nation, show that the output increased by 19,5% from the previous year.
According to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the country in southern Africa possesses the second-largest gold reserves per square kilometre in the world, with 13 million tonnes of confirmed deposits, only 580 tonnes of which have been used since 1980.
Top gold producers in Zimbabwe include Freda Rebecca, which is near Bindura’s Trojan Nickel mine, Blanket Mine in the province of Matabeleland South, Rio Zimbabwe, Metallon Corporation, Sabi gold Mine, Falcon Gold, Pickstone Peerless, Duration Gold Mine, Bilboes Holdings, and Eureka Gold Mine.
Small-scale producers currently lead the sector.
Platinum Group Elements
Due to their numerous industrial applications, PGMs, which include platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, and osmium, are in high demand all over the world. The second-largest platinum reserves in the world are found in Zimbabwe’s Great Dyke, a linear early Proterozoic layered mafic-ultramafic intrusion trending over 550 km with a maximum width of roughly 11 km.
According to the Ministry of Mines, the Dyke is home to an estimated 2,8 billion tonnes of PGM ore grading 4g per tonne. Notably, only in the South African Bushveld and along the Zimbabwean Great Dyke are PGMs exploited as primary metals.
PGM mineralization was discovered in the Great Dyke in the early 1920s.
Between 1925 and 1926, there was a surge in PGM prospecting as a result of these documentations and the discovery of PGMs in the Merensky Reef of the South African Bushveld Complex, leading to the discovery of the Wedza Mine. Numerous businesses have engaged in exploration since the 1950s. Global Platinum Resources and CAMEC (Todal Mining) are now conducting platinum exploration on the Great Dyke in the Bougai region of Shurugwi and Chegutu, respectively.
The Mimosa, Ngezi, and Unki Platinum Mines are currently operating as mines. Exploration and assessment of Zimbabwe’s platinum deposits have increased due to the demand for PGMs.
Diamonds
In Chiadzwa, Mutare West, Zimbabwe, there is extensive small-scale diamond production in the Marange diamond resources. According to the Ministry of Mines, more than 120 kimberlites have been found, but only two deposits—the River Ranch and the Murowa Diamond Mines—had economically significant grades.
According to the Ministry of Mines, evaluation is now being done on a number of kimberlites in the country’s southern region, however, some were discovered to be non-commercial. Recently, many diamond mines in the Chiadzwa region have opened as a result of the finding of diamondiferous Proterozoic conglomerates in the Umkondo basin, including Mbada, Marange Resources, and Anjin.
According to the Chamber of Mines, the production of diamonds was predicted to increase by 19% last year to five million carats from the 4,2 million produced in 2021. As part of an ambitious goal to enhance mining output and bring in US$12 billion annually, Zimbabwe anticipates increasing diamond production to 11 million carats by 2023.
Chrome
In addition to diamonds, platinum group metals, and gold, chrome is one of Zimbabwe’s principal exports. With deposits of roughly 10 billion tonnes, the nation contains the second-largest high-grade chromium ores in the world, behind South Africa. Chrome is primarily mined from the seam and stratiform deposits along Zimbabwe’s Great Dyke. It can be found as serpentinites with podiform structures in greenstone belts away from the dyke, such as in the Zimasco mine on Shurugwi Mashava.
In Mashava, south of Mberengwa in the Limpopo mobile belt, chromium is discovered in the remains of greenstone. In the greenstone zones, chrome can be found as alluvial deposits as well. Chrome is primarily utilized in the manufacture of stainless steel, as a metal coat, in the chemical sector, and metallurgical procedures.
Coal
Zimbabwe began producing coal in the early 1900s and is thought to have 25 billion tons of coal reserves. Large amounts of high-grade coal that have been fossilized can be found throughout the nation. Lower Karoo sediments contain it. About 12 billion tonnes of high-quality coal are found in the middle Zambezi basin in the north and the Save Limpopo basin in the south of the nation.
In the province of Matabeleland North, where businesses like Hwange Colliery, Makomo Resources, and Zambezi Gas are active, Zimbabwe can boast of enormous coal resources. The amount of coal produced this year is predicted to increase to 15 million tons as new producers come online and older ones increase their output. Chilota Colliery, Western Coal, and Liberation Mining are the newest miners.
Nickel
According to the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, nickel is only processed at Bindura, where the Trojan mine is located and is currently produced commercially at two mines, Shangani and Trojan. Less than 8 kilometres to the south of the Bindura town centre is where you’ll find the Bindura Smelting and Refinery.
Nickel is found in Zimbabwe’s Archean craton in komatiitic-composed rocks, such as those found at Trojan Mine. For Empress, Madziwa Great Dyke, it also seems to be stacked or unlayered mafic-ultramafic intrusive bodies. It can also be found in nickel laterite deposits, such as those in the northern Great Dyke hydrothermal shear zone.
Around the nation, there are nickel deposits in a number of serpentinite regions in greenstone belts with igneous complexes. The country has got huge potential in komatiite and laterite and more than 30 nickel deposits are known.
Asbestos
Chrysotile is one kind of asbestos. It can be found in enormous serpentinites, slip fibre zones, and ultramafic complexes that are packed with matted fibres in the Great Dyke, such as the Mashava Igneous Complex and the Ethel mine. 60 deposits have been worked on for chrysotile and are dispersed throughout the Masvingo, Insiza, Gwanda, Mberengwa, and Shurugwi.
Prior to the demand reduction, Zimbabwe was the third-largest producer of asbestos in the world. Asbestos used to be the second-largest revenue generator in the mining industry, behind gold. Gaths Mine and Shabani Mine were closed, which put an end to production.
One of the largest asbestos miners, Shabanie-Mashava Mines (SMM), has made repeated failed attempts to restart operations. Even now, the mine’s production hasn’t been started, despite plans to do so in September 2019 when the dewatering of flooded shafts was finished. SMM is thought to possess asbestos reserves worth more than US$1 billion, and if the company’s mines are reopened, they will generate roughly 75,000 tonnes of high-grade fibre, largely for export.
Copper
In Zimbabwe, there are more than 70 copper deposits that have generated copper as a primary or secondary product. The Magondi Basin, which spans more than 150 kilometres, has been the primary producing region. Similar copper resources can be discovered in the Umkondo Basin in the southeast of the nation. Numerous copper possibilities can also be found in hydrothermal formations in granite and Archaean Greenstone Belts, such as Inyathi and Copper Duke. After Mhangura was shut down, primary copper production all but halted. Current PGM, gold, and nickel operations are connected to copper production. There is still a huge amount of exploratory potential, it is thought.
Copper production has been declining in recent years because of the depletion of known reserves and low exploration expenditure levels, according to the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe.
Black granite
An estimated 150 000 tonnes of granite are produced in Zimbabwe each year, with the Mutoko district producing roughly 75% of the total amount of black granite. Ilford Red, Natural Stone, CRG, Zimbabwe International Quarry, and the province of Mashonaland East’s Mutoko Granite Mining Company are a few of the businesses that mine granite there.
Silver
Silver is the other resource that has primarily been mined in Zimbabwe. According to the Mines Ministry, silver is found naturally in combination with other minerals including gold, copper, and lead. It is classified as a by-product of the mining of platinum, gold, and copper, with the exception of the Osage Mine in Zimbabwe. The highest silver-to-gold ratios can be found in the gold deposits of the Odzi greenstone belt. The locations of the mineral are mostly Makoni, Makonde, and Kwekwe.
Lithium
Zimbabwe is the sixth-biggest producer of lithium in the world and is thought to have the greatest untapped resource in Africa. The greatest lithium mines in the nation are found at the Bikita mine, which is 308 kilometres south of Harare, the capital.
Other lithium mines include Kamativi Lithium Mine, Sabi Star Lithium Mine, MIRRORPLEX Lithium Project, Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project, Step Aside Lithium Project, Kamativi Lithium Project, and Arcadia Lithium Mine, which is expected to produce 2,5 million tonnes of lithium ore per year.
According to the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, the areas with confirmed lithium deposits in Zimbabwe are Goromonzi, Mudzi, Buhera, Bikita, Chegutu, Hwange, Harare, Insiza, Rushinga, Mutoko, Mutare, and Hwange. However, lithium is still being found in numerous locations all around the nation. The mineral has so far been found in locations including Mberengwa, Shamva, Bindura, and Kadoma.
Due to its high electrochemical potential, lithium has emerged as a crucial component in the production of high energy-density rechargeable batteries as the world moves toward clean energy, particularly electric mobility.
Since lithium-ion batteries are now 30 times less expensive than when they initially entered the market in the early 1990s, battery manufacturers believe that they will continue to dominate the sector.
This issue first appeared in the Mining Indaba issue of the Mining Zimbabwe magazine.