London listed, Vast Resources, who are set to invest in Chiadzwa diamond fields through a local entity comprising of Chiadzwa community, Katanga Pvt Ltd have secured financing for the project despite a slight delay in penning down the deal with its financier, 263Chat Business can reveal.
The deal, initially expected to have been sealed last week, the financing arrangement via a bond was assumed by a UK based fund, Atlas Capital Markets although the funding proposal is pending shareholder approval at a general meeting to be held on 8 November.
The new US$13.5million financing arrangement is set to cover costs of attaining production at two of its projects, the Katanga project in Chiadzwa and the Baita Plai mine in Romania.
“The bonds provide the required capital to enable the company to bring its two core assets, Baita Plai in Romania and the diamond concession in Zimbabwe, into production,” Vast chief executive, Andrew Prelea said.
Once the financing proposal has been approved by Vast shareholders, which analysts are buoyant will be rubber stamped, a signing agreement between Katanga (Vast and Chiadzwa community) and government of Zimbabwe through the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) is expected shortly thereafter.
The development is good news to Zimbabwe’s diamond sector and more so for the Chiadzwa community which will also be keen to take part in harnessing its mineral endowment.
Vast will be joining other foreign entities under joint-venture mining agreements with state owned ZCDC in Chiadzwa diamond fields that include Russian firm, Alrosa and Chinese company Anjin.
Zimbabwe recently laid bare its four year mineral strategy expected to bolster the mining sector into a US$ 12 billion industry from just around US$ 3.4 billion currently being released annually and the diamond sub-sector is expected to contribute 10 percent of total receipts in a mineral rich-country boasting of over 40 minerals.
