Zimbabwe seeks partners to develop $500 million platinum mine

Zimbabwe’s state-owned Mutapa Platinum Group said it has approached other miners to help it develop a $500 million mine in the country.

The company expects to start developing the project in Darwendale, which has estimated resources of 44 million ounces of platinum group metals, by the end of the first quarter, chief executive officer Munashe Shava said.

“We have also done a collaborative approach for the development of the asset, where we are looking at other producers or other miners who are already in the game to try and see how to collaborate with them to fast-track the development,” Shava said at a press conference in Harare, the capital.

He said the company is at an advanced stage with partners where funding is now almost ready, but declined to disclose any names.

The Darwendale project — about 65 kilometers (40 miles) from Harare — is central to the government’s plan to increase the number of PGM companies operating in the country. Zimbabwe has the world’s third-biggest platinum reserves, after South Africa and Russia. The metal’s price hit a record last week, before falling about 30% amid a broader precious metals selloff.

Shava said Mutapa Platinum is conducting capital budget estimates for the project, and that the open pit mine will probably last seven to 10 years. It will probably require half a billion dollars to fully develop, he said.

“We are open to anybody who has got the proper color of money to come into the project,” Shava said.

Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd.’s Zimplats unit, Sibanye Stillwater Ltd. and Valterra Platinum Ltd. also operate in the country.

(By Godfrey Marawanyika)