Stage set for Eureka re-opening
Mine construction and re-opening works being undertaken at Eureka Gold Mine have taken a huge leap following the delivery of two state of the art heavy duty gold mills on site, setting the stage for production resumption later this year.
Eureka ran into viability problems two decades ago and was forced to shut operations due to a myriad of reasons, chief among them capital flight, which dogged the economy at the turn of the millennium.
Reconstruction works at Eureka Gold Mine, were commissioned by President Mnangagwa in 2018 following the injection of fresh capital by Dallaglio Investments (Pvt) Limited, which also owns Pickstone Peerless Gold Mine in Chegutu District.
The capital injection came on the back of President Mnangagwa’s Zimbabwe is open for Business push, which seeks to drive Zimbabwe to upper middle income economy by 2030.
In an interview with Herald Finance and Business, Dallaglio Investments (Pvt) Limited Chief Executive Officer, Marc Nicolle, said the delivery of the two mills means the miner is now poised to beat Covid-19 induced drawbacks that have slowed several capital projects not only in Zimbabwe but the world over.
Mr Nicolle advised that world class experts were already on the ground installing the heavy duty mills.
“(The) project is more than 70 percent complete despite a very wet season and Covid-19 lockdown impacts at the various border posts where goods are being imported through,” said Mr Nicolle.
“The mills are the largest and most expensive pieces of equipment that will be installed on site.
“Their installation is already in progress with key items cast in their foundation concrete.
“World class experts are on site to ensure the precise alignments required for the rotating equipment are met (and) we are set to get the mine into production in the third Quarter of 2021,” he said.
The envisaged re-opening of Eureka Gold Mine is set to go a long way in expediting the attainment of the mining sector’s 2023 milestone, which seeks to grow annual mining exports to US$12 billion from US$2,7 in 2017.
Dallaglio Investments have already intimated that extensive exploration works at the mine have confirmed a resource base worth over US$1 billion.
Speaking after touring Pickstone Peerless in August last year, Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando said Dallaglio Investments (Pvt) Limited’s expansion projects would see the miner producing about four tonnes of the yellow metal annually.
“From the presentation (by Dallaglio), I am sure you gathered that they are producing about 65kgs of gold per month and in terms of their expansion plans, they are poised to produce over 100kgs per month at this (Pickstone Peerless Mine) operation,” he said Minister Chitando during a tour last August.
“There is also another sister operation, Eureka, which we visited some time back which will be doing over two tonnes per annum, so from this group we are looking at them contributing close to four tonnes per annum.
“So it’s a very key operation. It’s a significant employer employing over 500 people at this mine alone and as Government we are happy to partner them to ensure the milestone as laid out by His Excellency (President Mnangagwa) is met,” said Minister Chitando then.–herald.co.zw
