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Tinashe Makichi : Business Reporter

Government has identified an investor for its wholly owned Kwekwe refractory plant as efforts to revive the asset which has been idle since 2000 gather pace. The identified investor will take up a 49 percent shareholding while Government will control the remaining 51 percent. “We have identified a company after great interest towards the asset was observed. We have since given the investor documentation for them to go through and see if the partnership is agreeable,” confirmed Mines and Mining Development Permanent Secretary Professor Francis Gudyanga last week.

“The deal is now subject to conclusion and the finalisation of this deal will go a long way in boosting local gold output. At the moment I cannot disclose the identity of the investor because the negotiations are still ongoing,” he said.

The Kwekwe roasting plant has capacity to process about 9 000 to 10 000 tonnes of concentrate per annum and its resuscitation is expected to increase volumes to the national gold output.

The refractory plant ceased operations in 2000 and Government transferred ownership of the assets to Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe on condition that the corporation would pay all the liabilities that the roasting plant had.

MMCZ paid all the liabilities and assumed ownership of the assets on behalf of Government.

Government through Ministry of Mines and Mining Development this year however assumed responsibility of resuscitating the roasting plant in a bid to earn $140 million from extracting gold trapped in dumps at the plant.

The roasting plant was established in 1937 by the then Government of Rhodesia to assist small and medium scale miners around Kwekwe in the processing of dumps or refractory gold ore.

These dumps have an estimated 350 000 metric tonnes of ore and according to Peacocke and Simpsons Mineral Processors, they contain 97 220 ounces of gold worth $140 million at current prices.

Government is planning to replace roasters with new technology to improve recovery of gold and reduce the environmental impact of the plant.

“We want to find technology that can efficiently and effectively extract the refractory gold from the dumps. The treatment of this ore requires new technology because we want to migrate from the past roasting method.

“Government wants to establish a facility to treat the ore as it comes from other mines that have refractory gold because all is now under the jurisdiction of the ministry,” said Professor Gudyanga in an interview with The Herald Business last year.

Extensive reserves of the refractory gold exist in Zimbabwe, particularly in the Kwekwe, Kadoma and Gwanda greenstone belts.