Stories about mine deals
There were many things keeping mine executives up at night – power cuts, the exchange rate – but it wasn’t a bad year for mining deals.
Caledonia agreed to buy Bilboes gold mine for US$53 million worth of stock, in a deal that could increase Caledonia’s gold output four-fold. The company plans to invest US$200 million into Zimbabwe to develop that asset. Caledonia also bought Motapa Mine from Metallon, its third buy in just about a year.
After many delays, Karo Mining, finally put boots on the ground as it launched the US$391 million Selous platinum mine. A USD bond, which raised US$31.8 million to part-fund the mine, was the first such debt instrument seen on the local market in almost a decade.
In Hwange, coal heated up, with new investors Contango of UK and Western Coal stepping up mine development, to take advantage of rising coal demand. Zimbabwe shipped its first-ever coal to China.
In the Midlands, Tsingshan, the world’s biggest stainless-steel company, started building Manhize, a new 1.2 million-tonne-per-year steel plant.
Also this year, Padenga’s mining unit Dallaglio swung to a US$12.7 million half-year profit from a loss in 2021. The company announced a US$29 million investment to expand gold production.
At Mimosa, the company announced fresh investment of US$200 million to develop new mining areas and improve processing at its mine in Zimbabwe. RioZim completed a new US$52 million diamond processing plant at Murowa.
Zimbabwe is best. Or maybe not
Zimplats put into motion what is one of Zimbabwe’s biggest mining investments in recent times, a US$1.8 billion expansion that includes new mines, expanded processing and a solar plant.
Nico Muller, CEO of Zimplats parent Implats set a few tongues wagging among the commentariat, telling investors: “Zimbabwe is the best jurisdiction to operate in, least disruption, predictable production profile, best safety record, etc. I’m happy that others see Zimbabwe as a risk. It allows us to continue expanding our interest there”.
Not everyone liked that. But then not everyone is putting US$1.8 billion where their mouths are.
The CEO of Implats thinks Zimbabwe is a better place to mine platinum than SA. Here’s why
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