Mwana Africa subsidiary Freda Rebecca gold mine requires at least $3 million for the replacement and repair of its antiquated mining equipment.
Speaking after tour in Bindura on Friday last week, Freda Rebecca general manager Tonderai Muganyi said the funds were, “a stay in business capital”.
Freda Rebecca gold mine recently drew down the final tranche of $6 million from a loan facility provided by the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC-SA) as it continues to ramp up production.
IDC, a self-financing, South African state-owned national development finance institution that provides finance to promote industrial and entrepreneurial development, extended a $10 million loan facility to the mine which saw it initially drawing down $4 million.
Muganyi said the mining entity hopes to increase its output going forward.
Freda Rebecca produced an average 2 741 ounces of gold per month for the three months to the end of June while producing 3 937 ounces in July.
“The production ramp-up at Freda Rebecca continues to progress and our expansion to 50 000 ounces per annum is well advanced,” Muganyi said.
Mine manager Eliakem Hove said Freda Rebecca had its sights set on ramping up production to 70 000 ounces per year, subject to board approvals and the availability of capital.
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“There are plans to increase production to 70 000 ounces, taking advantage of the higher gold price and the current liberalised environment,” Hove said, adding the mine was working on reducing costs from the current $681 per ounce to around $650 per ounce in order to maximise profitability.
“We don’t expect the (gold) price to come down below $1 200. Experts are predicting the rally will stay for at least another year.”
Hove said Freda Rebecca and other mines had struck a deal with state power utility Zesa to directly import electricity from Mozambique, easing outages that had affected production in previous years.
Mwana Africa is a Pan-African resources company with operations in Zimbabwe and South Africa and exploration projects and interests in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Ghana and Botswana.
