Honex Projects

Huge diamond and gold deposits have been discovered in Mwenezi and Chiredzi in a massive boost for the country’s economy as the resources are expected to help the Government meet its target of transforming the mining sector into a US$12 billion industry by 2023.
The discovery of the minerals around the Chingwizi area at Nuanetsi Ranch and northern parts of Chikombedzi, followed an aero-magnetic survey commissioned by Government through the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development last year.
A local firm, Aero Surv Zimbabwe, partnered a South African firm Xcalibur Airborne Geophysics, in the survey which was launched by Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando at Buffalo Range Airport last year.
Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Ezra Chadzamira said the discovery of the two minerals bodes well for the economy.
“Huge diamond deposits were discovered around the Chingwizi area in Mwenezi while gold was found in northern Chikombedzi following an aero-magnetic survey commissioned by the Government.
“The Ministry of Mines will outline the next course of action after this discovery, but we are excited as a province because this will help grow our provincial Gross Domestic Product and also help the nation achieve its target to make mining a US$12 billion industry by 2023,” said Minister Chadzamira.
Contacted for comment on the actual specifics on the discovery of the precious stones, Minister Chitando requested questions in writing but had not responded by the time of going to print.
Mwenezi and Chiredzi have always been believed to have huge resources of kimberlite diamonds and gold.
This precipitated the survey which confirmed the presence of gems and the yellow metal.
Speaking during the commissioning of the survey last year, Minister Chitando said Government wanted to exploit kimberlite diamonds in line with the new diamond policy.
Diamonds were envisaged to be the bedrock of the policy that sought to transform diamond mining by making sure the mineral contributes US$1 billion to the mining industry by 2023.
The thrust is in line with President Mnangagwa’s vision to make Zimbabwe an upper middle income economy by 2030.
By 2023, Government wants diamond miners to be producing 10 million carats an average of over 3 million produced in the last two years.
It is expected that once mining starts, illegal border jumping in the Lowveld into South Africa by unemployed youths would be reduced.
The development will also spur the growth of Rutenga, which has been designated as a dry port as value addition industries will be opened, tapping on the abundance of the precious stones that will be exported to earn Zimbabwe foreign currency.
The surveyed block for diamonds covered approximately 8 800km stretching over Ngundu, Rutenga and other parts of Mwenezi.
It focused on conglomerate, alluvial and kimberlite deposits.
Under the new diamond policy, only four firms, Alrosa of Russian, Ainjin of China, Murowa and the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), are allowed to extract diamonds in Zimbabwe.

Two tonnes of gold by 2021 for Eureka mine

DELTA Gold’s Eureka Mine in Guruve is on track to achieve its production target of two tonnes of gold by 2021, Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando has said. He said this during a tour of Eureka Gold Mine yesterday.

Minister Chitando was leading a high-powered delegation that included Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa, Energy and Power Development Minister Fortune Chasi and secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Mr Nick Mangwana.

He expressed satisfaction over the progress made so far by the mine, which was re-commissioned by President Mnangagwa last year.

“We have a target of hitting the 100-tonne gold production by 2023. This will contribute to the attainment of an (Upper) middle income class economy by 2030,” said Minister Chitando.

“Eureka Mine which was re-commissioned by President Mnangagwa last year, has a target of producing two tonnes of gold by 2021.

“We have come here to see the progress made so far since last year. The mine is way on track to achieving its production target in 2021. We expect them to have increased their production by 2023.”

Since the mine’s re-commissioning, it is now employing 105 people, 54 of whom are from Guruve.

While progress has been made to ensure proper mining, the mine is grappling with power supply challenges as well as invasions by artisanal miners.

The company, which needs to pump water from its mining shafts is at times getting 15 hours of power supplies, thereby hampering progress.

Delta Gold’s biggest shareholder, Dalliglio, said besides being saddled by operational challenges, they were on course to meeting production targets.

Said Dalliglio CEO Mr Michael Fowler; “We are confident that by 2021 we will be producing up to 200kg of gold a month. This will be achieved during the first quarter of 2021.

Government to establish gold centres to increase output

GOVERNMENT has tabled a plan to establish gold centres which will provide technical and financial assistance to Artisanal Small Scale Miners (ASM).

The move is aimed at improving efficiency and total gold output.

Addressing a business breakfast forum on Thursday, Mines and Mining Development Minister, Winston Chitando said the initiative sought to leave no one behind in terms of mining opportunities and turning the economy around.

“Improving gold production will be achieved through harnessing efforts by small, medium and large scale miners.

“Currently, government is rolling out an initiative for the establishment of gold centres in areas where there is a predominance of ASM.

“The gold centres will therefore provide technical and financial support to the ASM which will go a long way to provide working capital and explosives that will enable the miners to increase their volumes and net returns will be much higher,” he said.

He said currently, ASM are using the hammer mill which only recovers one type of gold while the other types which require going through a metallurgical operation are not paid for and in the end reducing the returns which ASM earn.

“As a result, they cannot invest back into the business. The gold centres will have a consulting metallurgist and offering services such as transportation of the minerals for milling,” he said.

The move is in line with Chitando’s roadmap for the achievement of a US$12 billion mining industry in Zimbabwe by 2023, a 344 percent increase from US$2.7 billion in 2017.

A detailed document which will outline the achievement of the US$12 billion mining industry by 2023 will soon be launched.

Gold and platinum are among the minerals expected to lead the growth in mining revenue, together with minerals like diamonds, chrome and coal.

However, Thomas Gono, chairman of the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe’s Gold Producers Association, told a miners conference early this year that at least $1 billion in fresh capital would be required by the sector to achieve this target.

“It is not an illusion that we can achieve 100 tonnes of gold output by 2023,” said Gono, who spoke during a gold mining symposium at the 2019 mining industry annual conference.

“We can actually contribute $4 billion by 2023 and make significant contribution to foreign direct investment. But the gold sector requires in excess of $1 billion in the next five years to sustain the growth and development of the sector to achieve the 2023 target,” Gono noted.

Honex Mining is organising groups of Artisanal Small Scale Miners to form the gold centres that will be recognised by the government.
Those interested in the program email us on
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Emeralds and rubies take limelight as diamonds lose sparkle for traders
“Diamonds are a girl’s best friend,” Marilyn Monroe famously sang in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Fast forward 65 years, and the ladies appear as smitten with the stone as ever, judging by the numerous photos of friends’ diamond engagement rings on Instagram and Facebook feeds.
When it comes to gemstone traders in search of a profit, however, gentlemen (and ladies, of course) now seem to prefer coloured stones like rubies and emeralds, given the superior profit that can be made compared with their clear carbon cousins.
While global demand remains high, ample supply and a clear set of industry standards governing quality mean that diamonds have become increasingly commoditised, resulting in thin margins compared with coloured stones.
“[Standardisation] has allowed many people in the trade, as well as consumers, to feel they can make a purchase based on a grading report without actually handling the stone,” says Stuart Robertson, research director at Gemworld International.
“That’s not at all the case with coloured gemstones because there are such variables in colour tones that they really don’t lend well to selling solely on the basis of what a laboratory report says about the stone.”
Dev Shetty, chief executive of Dubai-based Fura Gems, estimates that the global market for coloured gemstones stones - encompassing rubies, emeralds and sapphires - will grow to $5 billion within five years from its current level of $2bn.
Emeralds in particular are likely to see a significant rise in demand in the coming years, boosted by an uptick in demand from the Middle East, according to Mr Shetty.
“Emeralds play a very important part role in this part of the world. Their colour makes them very auspicious in the Middle East,” he says, noting the colour green’s importance within Islam.
Saudi Arabia - whose flag consists of the Islamic shahada and a sword on a green background - accounts for about half of the emerald market within the Arabian Gulf, Mr Shetty notes, with the UAE representing the region’s second-largest market.
The Middle East is the third-largest market worldwide for emeralds behind the US and China, he adds.
While demand for emeralds has been muted in recent years due to intermittent supply, the market for the green gems is set to rise by around 20 per cent in the coming two years, according to Mr Robertson.
“We see them as one of the more popular gemstones right now, and there seems to be growing demand once again and good supply coming out of South America, Central America and Africa,” he tells The National.
Mr Shetty hopes that much of this demand will be met from Colombia’s Coscuez emerald mine, in which Fura acquired a 90 per cent stake in January.
“50 per cent of the world’s emeralds supply comes from Colombia,” he says.
“We have 240 people on the ground working with us in the country, and we’ll be scaling up [operations] as we go along.”
Alongside its emerald interests, Fura is bullish on the prospects for rubies, spurred on by demand from markets such as China, the US, Europe and India

Africa can get more from its minerals by building industries to service mines

Multinational firms from Europe, North America and more recently China still dominate the extraction and refining of most of minerals mined in Africa with minimal roles for African firms. From these minerals, foreign manufacturing firms produce consumer and industrial goods for sale in global markets at much higher prices than what’s paid for the raw materials. This is a source of lots of angst among policymakers and economists who are calling for increased local participation in the mining industry.

African governments are routinely advised to add value to their own natural resources to drive economic development. This is presented as a way of getting a slice of the huge returns enjoyed by others at the expense of countries in which the minerals are mined. This seemingly obvious reasoning is the basis of a growing policy focus on mineral beneficiation which involves improving the economic value of a mineral by turning it into a final or intermediate product.

The argument sounds logical. But accessing the rewards of this approach isn’t that simple. Those in favour of beneficiation tend to ignore the complexity of industry and markets of beneficiated products and the rules and regulations of supply chains. Most products, components and operations of the beneficiation industry and markets are currently alien to many African economies.

This means that, for the moment, beneficiation remains out of reach.

Take the case of steel. To use steel to manufacture washing machines for global markets, a country would need to either establish its own brands and outcompete established ones, such as Samsung, Defy and Hisense, or, alternatively, supply these popular producers with components. In Africa, this is unlikely to happen immediately because of small markets and brand loyalty among other challenges.

This is not to say that adding value to mineral resources shouldn’t be part of the agenda for African countries. But the focus should be elsewhere – the production of input goods like machinery, spares and services that support processes that precede beneficiation – exploration, mine construction and extraction itself. These are known as backward linkageindustries and are ready for picking. This approach served countries such as the US and Norway where they gave rise to globally competitive manufacturing and services industries serving the mining and oil industries.

What’s missing in Africa
A critical hurdle to Africa developing a strong industrial base – a prerequisite for any beneficiation – is the dominance of China and other Asian countries in the labour intensive manufacturing sector.

So why can’t African countries simply emulate China?

A number of factors aided China in its industrialisation drive. Firstly, China is one country with a huge unified market that can produce and consume its own manufacturing output in addition to exporting the same goods.

Africa, for its part, is a continent made up of many countries. This market is fragmented which limits inter and intra country production.

Secondly, China has invested heavily in human capital and well as hard infrastructure such as bridges and roads. All these factors are critical for any major industrialisation drive – and beneficiation – but are lacking in the majority of African countries.

Refocusing
A greater focus on the production of input goods could yield better results. This is because it offers an easier development path that’s within technical grasp of many African countries.

The scale of Africa’s mining industry means that it has a ready made market for input goods and services. This includes the supply of heavy mining spares and consumables, contract mining as well as security and catering services.

It makes business sense to have the input goods and services of these activities close to where they are needed. Close proximity gives African companies an advantage over multinational mining firms. Even more critical, proximity reduces the need for the mining industry to hold huge inventories of imported spares and consumables – a nightmare for cash flow.

Industries developed to support mines isn’t alien to the continent. For example the supply of ball-mills that crush the ore-bearing rock in the ore processing plants is established in some Africa countries i.e. South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This small start could be expanded, in both scope and magnitude relatively easily.

Recommending that African countries focus on the processes that precede mineral beneficiation isn’t hypothetical. The historical experiences of the US and Norway, for example, confirm the positive stimulus that these processes had for the overall industrialisation journeys of these countries. The two countries transformed within 30 years to be leading suppliers of mining inputs that include mine dump trucks and drill rigs.

African states can follow the same strategy, with the necessary adjustments, and harvest the low hanging fruits of resource endowment, leap-frogging to achieve the same over a shorter period.