State controlled, mining group, Kuvimba Mining House has announced a US$ 5.2 million dividend payout to its shareholders following a positive performance during the financial year ended 31 March 2021.
The mining group which is 65 percent owned by government and 35 percent owned by a consortium of international investors has enjoyed a new lease of life since the new ownership structure came into force last year and has since improved its performance.
The company owns and manages three operating gold mines in Freda Rebecca Gold Mine; Shamva Gold Mine and Jena Mine, three non-operating gold mines; Darwendale Platinum project trading under Great Dyke Investments, Zimbabwe Alloys Limited, Elvington Mine, Sandawana, Homestake and Trojan Nickel Mine trading under Bindura Nickel Corporation.
The US$5.2 million will be distributed as follows, Sovereign Wealth Fund of Zimbabwe – US$520,000.00; Public Service Pension Management Fund – US$560,000.00; Deposit Protection Corporation – US$400,000.00; Insurance and Pensions Commission – US$400 000; Datvest Nominees – US$ 1 million; National Venture Capital Company of Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd- USD 600 000; and Government of Zimbabwe USD 1.720 million.
“The gold companies have performed well with Fredda Rebecca Gold Mine leading the pack which produced on average, between 1,500kg and 2,100kg of gold per annum. Within the first year of full ownership of this mine, KMH has managed to increase gold production to 2,690kg. This is a substantial improvement from the previous year. The plan for the current financial year is to increase production to 3,215kg of gold per annum,” the company said.
Some eighteen months ago, most of the group’s mining entities were under distress with Shamva Mine for example, retrenching over 70 percent of its employees.
The company strategy has followed an initial phase of stabilizing the operations, a secondary phase of increasing metal output from current operations and the third phase is to operationalize the current non-operating asset.
“The most exciting prospect lies within Shamva Gold Mine. Operations have since resumed and the mine now employs just fewer than 900 employees and recently, a detailed exploration program to delineate the resource at Shamva hill was concluded,”
“Once fully developed, Shamva has the potential to become the largest gold mine in Zimbabwe by output and will target an annual production of 3,500kg of gold per annum,” the company said.
