By Takemore Mazuruse
Radnor Mine, a member of ZimCN (ZimChina) Investments, has made a massive injection into its gold mining operations in the Makaha area of Mutoko in Mashonaland East province following a recent acquisition of 10 new mine dump trucks worth US$3,5 million.
The 10 new trucks which arrived in the country last week, will see the mine scaling up its yield capacity thanks to their capacity to hall up to 1 000 tonnes of gold ore.
Radnor Mine chief representative Collins Musarurwa told Standard Style that the mine dump trucks are part of the mine’s response to the call by government for concerted efforts towards the attainment of a US$12 billion mining industry by 2023.
“As a progressive entity, we are heeding to the call by government for concerted efforts towards a US$12 billion mining industry by 2023,” Musarurwa said.
“These trucks will enable us to hall up over 1,2 million tonnes in the first phase of our production scale.
“We want to meaningfully contribute to the economic growth and turnaround of the country through sustainable and environment friendly mining.
“We are currently practising heap leach mining but our target is to venture into the more efficient milling so that we improve out output per hour.
“We are excited about the prospects and we hope to continue making significant strides towards the set target.”
According to Musarurwa, Radnor Mine’s multimillion dollar gold mining and processing plant is one of the country’s fast rising and largest gold mining establishments operated by ZimCn Investments and has committed funds to establish a highly efficient plant, excavating portals and state of the art equipment at a cost of US$3 million, anticipated to grow by 93% during the first quarter of its operations.
“The project is part of the Second Republic’s plan to revolutionise rural communities into massive economic zones through setting up of mining ventures among other economic development projects aimed at taking Zimbabwe to another level,” he said.
“This development will result in more employment, directly and indirectly, leading to a boost in monetary accomplishments which merges with the objectives of the devolution programme that advocates the idea of leveraging obtainable resources to grow each province’s GDP.”
The fledgling mine’s chief representative emphasised that they will do what it takes to contribute to economic development through excellence and productivity.
“Radnor is one of the most notable mines in Zimbabwe and directly contributing to economic growth and that requires a lot of effort in terms of capital injection.
“We are determined to achieve what we want to achieve, especially the drive by the government to turnaround the perception of rural areas which must boast of world-class roads, and distribution of quality goods and services,” said Musarurwa.
“Our mine targets massive outputs, and our massive investment through capital injection, sets the gold mining firm on a strong footing to improve its yield capacity.
“The heavy equipment we have brought in are able to take in about a thousand tonnes, so all in all, we should be able to haul up a thousand tonnes in our production scale, and should be able to translate to about 1,2 million tonnes of ore that we are able to haul from the mine to the processing plant in the first phase of our growth plan,” he said.
The mining giant has used part of its financial injection to revive and construct new roads and piped water infrastructure with other infrastructure undergoing extensive rehabilitation, a development expected to improve socio-economic linkages across Mashonaland East province and also as an entity set to contribute a significant part of that growth towards improving Zimbabwe’s economy heeding to the call of government’s Vision 2030 plan.
“Our coming in with massive financial injection as local players emerges as a seal of approval on expected positive performance of the mining sector aimed at anchoring the country’s GDP,” said Musarurwa.
Radnor Mine senior partner Tapuwa Chipembere said the capital injection was part of the entity’s support towards the government’s initiatives like the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), which aims to foster a prosperous and empowered upper middle-income society by 2030.
“As Radnor Mine, we strongly believe we have a role to play in the development of this economy hence our programmes and projects feed into other projects like NDS1,”Chipembere said.
“Our work is hinged on sustainable and environment friendly mining, economic growth as well as community development through championing community-driven corporate social investment initiatives in Makaha and beyond.”