Zimbabwe’s largest platinum project clears key hurdle
Russian-Zimbabwean platinum venture Great Dyke Investments (GDI) has cleared an important hurdle to develop what it would be the African nation’s largest platinum mine.
GDI, 50% owned by Russia’s Vi Holding and Zimbabwean
investors, said the African Export-Import Bank had completed a due diligence
study allowing it to proceed with a $500 million funding program for the
Darwendale project’s first phase.
The JV, which plans to start mining platinum ore in 2021,
has already spent $100 million to date on geological exploration and
construction of two mine portals and surface infrastructure.
The $2 billion project, located about 65 km (40 miles) from
the capital Harare, is expected to produce 860,000 ounces of platinum group
metals (PGM) and gold per year at its peak. That would make it the no.1 PGM
mine in Zimbabwe, which holds the world’s third-biggest platinum reserves after
South Africa and Russia.
“The project funding structure envisages participation of
various types of equity investors as well as lenders,” GDI’s chief executive
officer, Alex Ivanov, told Bloomberg News. “The specific stake to be acquired
by potential investors would largely depend on their overall appetite for the
project.”
Zimbabwe, dealing with its worst economic crisis in more
than a decade, is pursuing an ambitious plan to boost mining output and earn
the country $12 billion a year. Platinum mining is seen as a major anchor of
that drive.
The country’s platinum is mostly found on the Great Dyke
belt, which stretches for more than 500 km and contains an estimated 96 million
ounces of platinum group metals.
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