CORRECTED - FACTBOX-Companies in Zimbabwe's revived mining sector

Wed Jun 30, 2010 12:33pm EDT

(Corrects Rio Tinto entry to make clear the firm has not launched an expansion at its Murowa diamond mine, but is reviewing feasibility studies for a planned expansion.)

June 30 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's revived economy is sparking a clutch of re-openings and expansions in the mining sector. For an analysis, see [ID:nLDE65F0HD]

Below are a list of companies and assets in the sector.

PLATINUM

-- Zimbabwe has the world's second-biggest deposits of platinum group metals in the Great Dyke formation that runs about 550 km through the country.

* Impala Platinum (IMPJ.J)

Implats, the world's second-biggest platinum producer, controls the country's largest platinum mine through Zimplats (ZIM.AX). It recently said it planned to go ahead with its $500 million expansion project to lift annual output by 50 percent to 270,000 ounces of platinum. [ID:nLDE64J0D6]

* Anglo Platinum (AMSJ.J) (AAL.L)

Angloplat, the world's top platinum producer is due to launch production at its Unki mine in October, which will eventually produce 65,000 ounces per year.

* Aquarius Platinum (AQP.L) (AQPJ.J)

Aquarius, the world's No. 4 platinum miner, has a 50-50 joint venture with Implats for the Mimosa mine, which is expected to produce 200,000 ounces of platinum group metals in the fiscal year to June, up from 180,000 the previous year. [ID:nLDE65R1SS]

ENRC (ENRC.L)

Kazakh miner ENRC owns 60 percent of the Bokai platinum project, which is undergoing a feasibility study. The first stage is expected to produce 163,000 ounces of platinum group metals in concentrate per year.

GOLD -- Zimbabwe aims to more than double gold output to 20 tonnes a year in two to five years, the mining chamber said last month. [ID:nWEA4268]

* Mwana Africa (MWA.L)

Mwana Africa reopened the Freda Rebecca last year and aims to increase production to more than 50,000 ounces of gold a year by the end of September.

* Duration Gold

Privately held Duration Gold owns 112 gold deposits and mines with total historic production of 5.6 million ounces. It is reopening mothballed operations and aims to produce 100,000 ounces of gold a year by 2012. [ID:nLDE64U0F8]

* New Dawn (ND.TO)

Canada's New Dawn Mining Corp announced a deal on June 16 to acquire a majority of Central African Gold CAN.L and consolidate the firms' seven mines. It aims to produce 50,000-60,000 ounces of gold within two years and eventually expand to as much as 250,000 ounces

* RioZim (RTNR.ZI)

RioZim said it planned to increase output at its Renco gold mine to 70,000 ounces by 2013 from 24,000 ounces this year and aimed to reach 112,000 ounces by 2015 following new investment. [ID:nLDE64P17W]

NICKEL/COPPER/FERROCHROME

* Bindura Nickel Corp (BIND.ZI) Bindura, majority owned by Mwana Africa, is the only integrated nickel miner, smelter and refinery in Africa. It was shut down in November 2008 and Mwana is seeking to raise finance to reopen the firm's Trojan mine before the rest of the complex. [ID:nLDE62724R]

* RioZim (RTNR.ZI)

RioZim aims to refurbish its Empress nickel refinery, which refines nickel and copper matte from Botswana. It also hopes to start chrome mining in a joint venture project and produce 30,000 tonnes of chrome concentrate a year from 2012. [ID:nLDE64P17W]

* Zimasco

Zimasco, owned by Chinese mining and trading group Sinosteel Corp, has a capacity of around 200,000 tonnes of ferrochrome annually, making it the country's biggest ferrochrome producer.

DIAMONDS

* Rio Tinto (RIO.L) (RIO.AX)

Rio Tinto owns 78 percent of the Murowa diamond mine, and RioZim owns the rest. Rio has begun preparatory work for a $300 million expansion programme to raise capacity sixfold. A review of expansion feasibility studies is due to be completed by the end of 2010. Capacity is 300,000 carats a year, but output was only 124,422 carats last year. [ID:nLDE64S08Q]

* Marange

Sales of diamonds from the Marange fields have been mired in controversy. The watchdog Kimberley Process failed to agree this month to suspend trade after calls from civil society groups to address human rights abuses at the fields. [ID:nLDE65N265]

COAL

-- According to Chamber of Mines figures, Zimbabwe's coal output has sharply declined from nearly 6 million tonnes in the 1990s to just over 1.667 million tonnes in 2009.

* Hwange (HCCL.ZI)

The decline in coal output is largely due to lack of funds to recapitalise the Hwange Colliery Company, in which the cash-strapped Zimbabwe government is the largest single shareholder, with 43 percent.

* RioZim (RTNR.ZI)

RioZim owns the Sengwa coal mine in north-western Zimbabwe in a 50-50 joint venture with Rio Tinto. Small-scale mining at Sengwa, which produced 25,000 tonnes per month for the local tobacco industry, was stopped in May 2008 at the peak of Zimbabwe's economic crisis. Sengwa has proven ore reserves of 519 million tonnes and a total resource of 1.3 billion tonnes. RioZim says Sengwa coal is best suited to support a thermal power station, and the firm is currently holding discussions with undisclosed potential investors interested in setting up a coal-fired 2,400 MW power plant at the mine. (Reporting by Eric Onstad and Nelson Banya, editing by Will Waterman)

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