GOVERNMENT is looking at the expressions of interest that have come through from partners interested in investing in mines owned by the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), Mines and Mining Development minister Walter Chidhakwa has said.
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Chidhakwa said ZMDC had received expressions of interest for Elvington Gold Mine, Jena, Sabi, Kamativi and Mhangura.
“We are looking for partners for these mines and ZMDC has received expressions of interest. They (ZMDC) will soon report to the Ministry of Mines on what the interest looks like,” he said. Chidhakwa said the partners who had shown interest in the mines included locals and foreign partners whom he could not reveal. Elvington Gold Mine general manager John Nengomasha told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy recently that the revival of the mine was in limbo as they had failed to attract investors to resuscitate its operations. Elvington requires $4,1 million to resuscitate its operations and start the heap leach project. Nengomasha said the company estimates that its current heap leachable material to be at 351 882 tonnes and it requires $2,9million. ZMDC wants to revive Mhangura Copper Mine which closed over 10 years ago when copper prices tumbled on the world markets. Early this month, government announced that it had secured a $7 million loan to revive Sabi Gold Mine in Zvishavane. The recapitalisation of ZMDC’s mines has been on the cards for the past four years but could not take off due to unavailability of funding. In 2012 government said it was looking for $35 million to resuscitate Elvington, Sabi and Jena mines. Finance and Economic Development minister Patrick Chinamasa recently said that the performance of the mining sector was being affected by commodity prices in the first half of the year.
