ZIMBABWE’S largest gold mining group, Metallon Gold, is consolidating its claims at Redwing Mine in Manicaland into a mining lease.
BY TARISAI MANDIZHA
Operations at the Redwing Mine in Penhalonga were suspended in 2005 when the mine flooded. The work has since resumed to de-water the mine with a target to start production in July.
In an interview, Metallon Gold corporate affairs executive Zenzo Nsimbi said Redwing Mine had previously been a claim only.
“When you start a mine, it is based on a claim and later you can consolidate it into a lease. Redwing Mine has been a claim and we are now consolidating it,” Nsimbi said. The latest Government Gazette published Friday stated: “Notice is hereby given in terms of Section 138 (a) of the Mines and Minerals Act Chapter 21:05, that Metallon Gold Zimbabwe Private Limited has applied to the Mining Affairs Board for a mining lease, map reference Mutare SE-36-10 Edition 2 of scale 1:250 000, published by the Surveyor-General, Harare, for an area that is described in the schedule.”
The gazette further indicated: “The area to which the application relates is more clearly shown on a plan lodged with the Mining Commissioner, Manicaland mining district and by the beacons erected on the ground. The principal mineral to be mined is gold. Any person wishing to object to the issue of the mining lease should do so in writing stating the reasons for objection to the Mining Commissioner, Manicaland mining province.”
Metallon Gold is owned by South African mining magnet Mzi Khumalo and has five gold mines in Zimbabwe — How Mine, Shamva Mine, Arcturus Mine, Mazowe Mine and Redwing Mine.
The group said at the time of its closure, Redwing Mine had been operating at 25% capacity and had a capacity to extract 20 tonnes of gold ore per month.
