Munyaradzi Musiiwa, Midlands Correspondent
THE Government has secured $7 million worth of mining equipment for Sabi Gold Mine in Zvishavane which will assist in the revival of the mine, Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa has said.
In an interview on the sidelines of a tour of Sabi Gold Mine in Zvishavane on Friday, Minister Chidhakwa said Government had secured mining equipment for the mine to ensure that its target gold mine output of about 25 kilogrammes a month would be achieved.
He said the mine will soon resume operations after Government resolved the impasse between the company’s major shareholder Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and a new investor.
“We have secured $7 million worth of equipment for Sabi Gold Mine which closed more than two years ago. The mine was set to resume operations sometime last year but we had differences about the structure which was designed by the judicial manager. The mine got about $5,29 million from Chandiwana Mining Corporation and they started looking at a possibility of a joint venture. We disputed that because these are Government assets and we cannot parcel them out in that manner,” he said.
Minister Chidhakwa said the company will resume operations soon adding that the gold output projection once the mine reopens would be between 20 to 25 kilogrammes a month.
Sabi Gold Mine judicial manager, Dr Wesley Sibanda, announced last year that the mine was set to resume operations after two years of dysfunction after a local investor Chandiwana Mining Corporation, had agreed to inject $26 million.
The deal, however, hit a snag when Government revoked the agreement citing violation of policy in the structure which was designed by the judicial manager. Sabi Gold Mine, which is the fourth largest mine in Zvishavane after Mimosa, Shabanie and Murowa Diamonds Mine, used to produce about 50 kilogrammes of gold per month with a total workforce of 420.
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