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Golden Sibanda

Senior Business Reporter

Bilboes Holdings, a gold mining entity that owns three major gold mines in Matabeleland North, is working on an ambitious infrastructure expansion initiative that will boost bullion production and the domestic economy.

The group’s mines are currently under care and maintenance, but on completion it is expected that the project will facilitate exploitation of gold within its existing operations at Isabella-McCays-Bubi Oxide Complex.

Bilboes’ operations are located within the Bubi District of the Matabeleland North Province and entail the removal of gold bearing oxide ores from opencast pit and then processing in order to produce gold.

The proposed Bilboes sulphide gold project entails the establishment of additional infrastructure required at each of the three existing mines to facilitate the extraction, handling and processing of the sulphide ores.

Bilboes, once ranked among Zimbabwe’s 10 biggest gold producers, has since completed an environmental impact assessment (EIA) ahead of commencement of the project.

“The proposed project aims to exploit economically viable gold deposits within the existing Bilboes operations, thus extending the life of the existing operations and allowing for increased production at the mines,” Bilboes said.

The project will entail making existing open pits wider and deeper to extract the sulphide ore, putting up a new processing plant and tailings storage facility (to process the gold from the sulphide ore and constructing a new haul road.

Further, the project will encompass the establishment of additional waste rock dumps and associated facilities at the proposed processing plant, including a road network, offices, housing, power and water reticulation.

The mines can potentially produce more than 200 000 ounces of gold, making the project the largest by output in the country, said the person. Most of the Isabella-McCays-Bubi operations are currently mothballed as the owners search for investors.

The gold industry is important to the socio-economic development of the southern African country through its contribution to export earnings, Government revenue and employment, among other benefits.

The national economy of Zimbabwe has largely been dependent on the mining sector to contribute to its GDP growth. Gold mining is a key component of the mining sector, accounting for over 50 percent of the total mineral revenue.

Gold is Zimbabwe’s single largest export followed by tobacco and together with platinum, the minerals account for over 60 percent of the country’s annual export earnings after raking in US$1,3 billion in 2019.

Despite gold deliveries to Fidelity Printers and Refiners closing the year at a record high 33,3 tonnes in 2018, the year 2019 resulted in a 16,9 percent decline in deliveries to about 27,7 tonnes.

Bilboes said it is estimated that for every dollar created in the gold industry, an additional US$0,79 is created in other sectors as a result of the indirect multipliers (Chamber of Mines, 2016).

“As such, the project would contribute to the national economy through the above-mentioned export earnings,Government revenue and other contributions. At a local level, the development of the proposed project will benefit the surrounding communities both directly and indirectly,” the company said.

Direct economic benefits of the project will be derived from wages, taxes and profits.  Indirect economic benefits will be derived from the procurement of goods and services and the spending power of employees.

Further to this, the privately owned company contends that through employment, workers will gain skills in the construction and operation of the project which contributes to capacity building for the local communities.