By Chris Takudzwa Muronzi
HARARE, July 16 (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s Kuvimba Mining House will develop its Darwendale platinum project as an open pit rather than the previously planned underground mine, CEO Trevor Barnard said, speeding up the delayed venture as platinum prices rise.
Launched by former President Robert Mugabe and Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov in September 2014, the project was initially designed as an underground mine that would cost about $450 million in the first phase and become Zimbabwe’s biggest mining venture.
It was thrown into jeopardy in 2022 when Kuvimba’s Russian joint venture partner withdrew and prices of the platinum group metals, mostly used to curb vehicle emissions, collapsed.
Barnard told Reuters in an interview Kuvimba had shifted from its “big bang approach” and would start with an open pit at an initial cost of $50 million.
“That is quite a change in scope and phasing,” Barnard said. “It’s very difficult to raise $450 million specifically for a platinum project and in Zimbabwe.”
Instead, funds would be sourced from parent company, Zimbabwe’s sovereign wealth fund Mutapa, internally generated cash and a “bit of debt,” he added.
The diversified mining company also has three operational gold mines that produced 116,000 ounces in 2024.
Analysts say rising platinum prices, driven by a surge in Chinese imports and a drop in supply from major producer South Africa, could more generally stimulate projects halted during the price trough.
Platinum prices rose 36% during the second quarter. In June alone, prices jumped 28% as hedge funds and speculative traders piled in, notching their strongest month since 1986 and hitting an 11-year high of $1,432.6 an ounce.
Tharisa, which delayed its $391 million Karo PGM project in Zimbabwe due to low metal prices, said on July 9 it was working “to accelerate the final development” of the mine, as improving commodity prices boosted its balance sheet.
(Reporting by Chris Takudzwa Muronzi, editing by Nelson Banya and Barbara Lewis)
