Xinhua, Harare :
Russia is set to launch what could become Zimbabwe’s biggest platinum mine amid an official announcement that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be in Zimbabwe next week to seal the deal.
Lavrov, who will be leading a high-powered business delegation, will be in Zimbabwe from Sept. 15 to 17, the state-run Herald newspaper reported Friday.
His visit follows an earlier visit to Russia in July by Zimbabwe’s finance and mines minsters.
“He will pay a courtesy call on President Mugabe and participate in the commissioning of the Darwendale Integrated Platinum Group Metals Project on Tuesday,” the newspaper said.
Media reports say the project’s value is estimated at 3 billion U.S. dollars. It is not yet clear who else is in partnership with the Russian investors in exploiting the platinum, and when actual mining at the site which is about 70 km west of Harare will commence.
It is said the platinum project will have capacity to produce 600,000 ounces of platinum annually, much more than what the current biggest miner, Zimplats, is producing.
Zimplats, which was forced to close its biggest 2 million tonnes of ore per annum mine last month after it collapsed, produced 240,000 ounces in its full year to June 2014.
The closure has dampened the mines’ plans to gradually ramp up production to 270,000 ounces by 2016.
Russia is set to launch what could become Zimbabwe’s biggest platinum mine amid an official announcement that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be in Zimbabwe next week to seal the deal.
Lavrov, who will be leading a high-powered business delegation, will be in Zimbabwe from Sept. 15 to 17, the state-run Herald newspaper reported Friday.
His visit follows an earlier visit to Russia in July by Zimbabwe’s finance and mines minsters.
“He will pay a courtesy call on President Mugabe and participate in the commissioning of the Darwendale Integrated Platinum Group Metals Project on Tuesday,” the newspaper said.
Media reports say the project’s value is estimated at 3 billion U.S. dollars. It is not yet clear who else is in partnership with the Russian investors in exploiting the platinum, and when actual mining at the site which is about 70 km west of Harare will commence.
It is said the platinum project will have capacity to produce 600,000 ounces of platinum annually, much more than what the current biggest miner, Zimplats, is producing.
Zimplats, which was forced to close its biggest 2 million tonnes of ore per annum mine last month after it collapsed, produced 240,000 ounces in its full year to June 2014.
The closure has dampened the mines’ plans to gradually ramp up production to 270,000 ounces by 2016.
