Mineral samples await confirmation Minister Walter Chidhakwa
Minister Walter Chidhakwa

Minister Walter Chidhakwa

Oliver Kazunga recently in Kamativi
EXPLORATORY work at Kamativi Tin Mine is set to be completed within the next two months paving way for the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and China Beijing Pinchang to decide the course of the project.

In 2015, the Government announced that a new investor, China Beijing Pinchang, was set to inject $102 million into the revival of Kamativi Tin Mine.

The mine, which was wholly owned by the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), ceased operations in 1994 after the price of tin on the international market fell overnight from about $18 000 per tonne to less than $3 000.

The mineral’s price is now pegged at between $17 000 and $22 000 per tonne. Kamativi Tin Mine was opened in 1936.

A consultant for the exploration work Mr Sam Siziba said results for the first batch of samples taken for the
confirmatory work were yet to be received.

“This is a confirmatory exercise where we want to match with what the previous miners obtained with the results that we obtain.

“The confirmatory exercise is expected to be completed in two months’ time. The exercise is being carried out just to match what we are obtaining against originally what the previous investors obtained,” he said in an interview on site.

“Thereafter, the shareholders of the project will then sit down to discuss the way forward against the results.”

Apart from undertaking confirmatory work for tin and tantalite, Mr Siziba said they were also exploring for minerals such as bellarium and indium.

Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa is on record saying as the mine re-opens, seven other minerals including lithium would also be exploited.

The minister also announced early this year that $100 million required to do preliminary work ahead of the resuscitation of Kamativi Tin Mine and a team of geologists was already on the ground.

A team of eight geologists; four Zimbabwean geologists and four others from China spent six months at Kamativi working on the geology.

@okazunga

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