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The former CEO of Zimbabwe’s biggest platinum producer Mimosa who is also the Minister of Mines and Mining Development Hon Winston Chitando’s dream to see Mimosa and other mines value add and beneficiate platinum before exporting has finally been considered by most mines now that he is the Minister as miners mull pooling resources for refinery.
When Minister Chitando was the Group CEO for Mimosa before the second Republic, he took Mimosa to the highest levels of being one of the world’s top Platinum producers and now in the driving seat his dream as a former Technocrat in the sector has seen Local platinum producers considering pooling resources to construct a precious metals refinery in line with his expectations for miners to add value and beneficiate minerals locally before export.
TechnoMag has it on good Authority that platinum mining companies were seriously considering the plan.
The majority platinum producers currently export platinum in concentrate form, with only Zimplats beneficiating it to matte.
Mining experts believe the establishment of a refinery would significantly increase revenue from platinum since the country hosts huge platinum deposits.
Platinum currently accounts for at least 36 percent of the country’s total mineral output by value.
The second-largest platinum deposits in the world after South Africa are found right here in Zimbabwe which has been pushing mining firms operating in the country to build beneficiation facilities.
The first Republic under the late President Mugabe imposed a 15 percent tax on raw platinum exports to nudge companies to beneficiate the mineral locally.
This levy was later suspended after the miners agreed to a timeline to build local facilities.
Treasury announced a new tax that was supposed to be effective early this year in 2020, but it was deferred to January 2023.
Zim platinum miners currently export the mineral largely in raw or semi-processed state to South Africa for refining.
This establishment of a platinum refinery in the country has become even more urgent considering that mining is expected to anchor economic growth under the National Development Strategy 1, which is expected to help achieve an upper middle-income economy by 2030.
The Mineral is strategically important to the economy as it is one of the two minerals, including gold, that generate more than half the revenue from the mining sector.
The country currently has three platinum mining companies, Zimplats, a unit of South Africa’s Implats; Mimosa Mining Company, co-owned by Implats and Sibanye Stillwater of South Africa; and Unki Mine, a unit of Anglo-American.
Many other platinum projects are at various stages of development, including South African firm Tharisa’s fledgling Karo Platinum in Mashonaland West.
The Zvishavane based Mimosa believes that it makes economic sense for platinum miners to put together financial resources to build in-country processing facilities, as opposed to going it alone since this was expensive.
“As you might know, there are other organisations that are currently looking at setting up smelters, and the discussions are at various levels – board and shareholder levels – to see how we can combine forces and also send our concentrates for in-country processing,” an official was quoted.
The official, however, ruled out the possibility of Mimosa setting up its own smelter, claiming the mine’s deposits could not generate returns to allow such an investment.
“What is left on the ground is 10 years on South Hill, and if we develop the North Hill shaft, we can get another 12 years. If you take a life of a mine of 22 years and invest US$100 million in a smelter, it’s not enough time for you to recover that investment.
“So, from a business point of view, you don’t then recover that capital investment,” he said.
The official added that, Sending platinum concentrates to another company’s smelter, in which case the miner is only charged treatment fees, makes economic sense.
The top gun from the Chamber of Mines indicated that “the miners are already smelting some of their platinum and sending it out as matte, but with more production, they would need to reduce costs by pooling resources (to build a refinery)”.
The chamber of mines boss, added, talks on it were already advanced as the plan was not new.
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