KUVIMBA Mining House (KMH) subsidiary, Freda Rebecca Gold Mine (Freda) produced 603 kilogrammes of gold in the first three months of its current financial year, up 2% on the prior period, despite losing many hours of production due to power cuts.
The company's financial year runs from April to March.
The government owns 65% of KMH, which in 2020 acquired Bindura-based Freda as part of a wave of mining asset purchases.
Speaking to journalists during a tour of the mine last week Friday, Freda managing director Patrick Maseva-Shayawabaya said the mining company would continue ramping up production.
“In terms of gold production, we produced just over 19 000 ounces (oz) for the quarter to June 2023, which was marginally up on the quarter to June 2022. When you look at it in terms of kilogrammes produced, it was 603kg compared to 592kg for the same period last year,” he said.
“We aspire to get that number to be above 20 000oz, but as an overall assessment of the performance for the quarter, it was a good one for us despite the fact that we lost many hours due to power cuts. We were really able to compensate for that by higher throughput and also a higher grade.
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“We had a grade of 1,53 for the quarter compared to 1,49 for the quarter and we were able to process more tonnage in that quarter. So, overall a good quarter in terms of production and we are looking forward to achieving at least the same or better in the next quarter.”
During the quarter the firm undertook and commissioned a number of capital projects, including a return water dam and a floating penstock facility at a cost of US$6,1 million which improved the stability of the tailing storage facility.
“We have also just completed a thickener and we expect to commission it by the end of this quarter that we are in. During the same period, we also undertook an exploration programme within our lease area around Freda,” Maseva-Shayawabaya said.
“At current rate of extraction, life of mine is plus or minus five years. We need to increase that life and this exploration programme that we started is a start to extending that life beyond the five years. It was a fairly successful programme.”
He added: “We spent US$900 000 and we generated 1,5 million tonnes of ore at a grade of 2,33 grammes, which is higher than our current open pit grade. The resource that was generated is what the geologists call inferred resource and it means that the confidence level in it is not high enough for us to mine.
“So, what we need to do now is to do additional drilling so that we upgrade it from the inferred status to at least indicated status. All that it says is we have a high level of confidence in the grade and in the volume of ore that is available. That will cost us US$2 million to complete.”
The managing director told NewsDay Business that in April 2022, Freda commissioned Mill Number 3 at a cost of US$13 million. Mill Number 3 is dedicated to processing ore from Shamva.
KMH has extensive interests in gold, nickel, lithium, chrome and platinum.
It has bought several businesses since its founding, including Bindura Nickel Corporation, Great Dyke Investments, Jena Mine, Shamva, Sandawana Mine, Tiger and Club, Globe and Phoenix and Zimbabwe Alloys, among others.
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