MOSES MATENGA
The Kuvimba Mining House owned Shamva gold mine realised a new lease of life following its reopening in 2020 with the mine general manager, Gift Mapakame saying at least US$126 million capital injection needs to be channelled towards the open pit project that now has a lifespan of 14 years.
While the mine is enjoying a new chapter, workers also said their lives have changed for the better since Kuvimba Mining House took charge after years of struggling following the mine closure.
Gift Mapakame said the Shamva Hill open pit is a game changer and is expected to be fully functional in two years.
“We are expecting to invest a total US$126 million in peak funding for the Shamva Hill open pit project. This is quite a big project. That extensive capital input, a significant proportion of it is going into developing a 220 000 tonnes per month processing facility together with a tailing storage plant,” Mapakame told journalists during a media tour.
The capital investment will also be channelled towards the pre-production phases required for the open pit. The project itself has an expected life of 14 years, producing an annual gold production of 2,6 tonnes per year.”
The mine, which is Zimbabwe’s biggest gold producer, has been processing 45 000 tonnes annually, and producing about 670 kg of gold from its underground operations since its revitalisation in 2020.
Workers at the mine say their lives have changed from despair to hope following the reopening of the company with Kuvimba Mining House affording them loans, medical aid facilities, residential stands, rehabilitation of houses among other issues.
Never Mhande, 53, one of the workers said: “When the mine closed we had no water, no power and most of all no employment. It was horrible we did not know how we were going to survive”
“Our children were unable to go to school but since Kuvimba re-opened the mine our lives have changed”
Workers told Business Times that Kuvimba Mining House has improved their lives and working conditions.
“They first considered our welfare by refurbishing our houses. They have improved our working conditions and we now have proper personal protective equipment.”
The company also constructed a new morgue in the district under its corporate social responsibility, with a capacity to hold up to 11 bodies.
The state of the art facility was built at Shamva District hospital and is open to the whole community.
This development comes as a relief to a community that previously relied on an old dilapidated mortuary with a capacity to carry only two bodies.
