Dallaglio invests US$80m
LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
A unit of Victoria Falls Stock Exchange-listed Padenga Holdings has invested over US$80m in mine development in the past few years.
Some of the assets of Dallaglio Investments are Pickstone, Eureka and Blue Rock mines.
Padenga’s chief finance officer, Oliver Kamundimu, told a recent investment conference in London that Dallaglio would continue to invest in the mine development to increase output to earn foreign currency in the wake of the strong gold firm prices on the international market.
“Dallaglio has invested over US$80m in mine developments since 2014 and will continue to do so to increase production,” Kamundimu said.
Dallaglio spent more than US$21m to finance capital expenditure programmes for Pickstone and Eureka gold mines, as gold remained an attractive commodity in a global market battling the impact of Covid-19 and the war in Eastern Europe.
A significant chunk of the amount was invested in the expansion of operations at Pickstone mine in Chegutu as the company seeks to tap into the potential high-grade gold deposits of the asset.
Some funds were used to finance the re-equipping and regeneration of the mine.
Zimbabwe’s gold producers have been raking up revenue as a result of high commodity prices.
The current gold price per ounce is US$ 2,033 and the price is expected to continue rising.
The company invested a huge amount in Pickstone Mine due to its high-grade ores.
The company believes that the ore coming from there will hit mills at a very high grade.
Padenga wants to acquire more gold mines after the maximisation of the capacity of two mines-Pickstone and Eureka.
Zimbabwe has a very attractive resource base that is something that Dallaglio wants to move to develop over time.
Eureka Mine was one of the many projects being resuscitated as the government targets a US$12bn mining economy by 2023, anchored on 60 tonnes of gold, alongside a platinum group of metals, hydrocarbons like oil and gas, coal, gold, lithium, chrome and ferrochrome as major contributors.
Padenga is also a leader in crocodile farming where it is putting up 1.4MW of green energy to alleviate power challenges.
