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Oliver Kazunga Senior Business Reporter
RIOZIM shareholders have approved the company’s bid to raise $10 million through rights issue that it needs to reopen its defunct Cam & Motoring Gold Mine in Kadoma.The approval was made during the company’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) last week.

“The EGM was convened in order to consider the proposed renounceable rights offer to shareholders intended to raise $10 million principally to fund the Cam & Motoring Gold Mining project,” the firm said in a notice yesterday.

“The directors be and are hereby authorised to make a renounceable rights offer of 66,666,667 ordinary shares of a nominal value of $0,01 each in the company’s share capital, at a subscription price of $0,15 each, to existing shareholders.”

It is hoped that resources raised through the rights offer would go a long way in resuscitating the defunct gold mine through retooling.

Last month, RioZim directors proposed the rights offer to reopen Cam & Motoring mine that was closed nearly 50 years ago.

Cam & Motor Mine was once the largest producer of gold in Zimbabwe and produced in excess of 150 tonnes of the yellow metal in its entire life.

The mine was closed in 1968 with the price at $35 per ounce while it was operating at depths of 1,800 metres that the company deemed no longer viable.

During that stage, the mine cut-off grade was eight grammes per tonne and it was considered likely that there could be significant resources adjacent to the old workings that would now be economic to mine.

RioZim commissioned an exploration programme to search for the expected lower grade zones surrounding the mined ore bodies.
If re-opened, it is projected that production at the mine would be 4,000 ounces per  month.

RioZim owns the Renco Mine in Masvingo, Empress Nickel Refinery and has a 22 percent shareholding in Murowa Diamonds.

Last week, RioZim in its trading update, said it was likely to report bigger losses for the full year ended December 31, 2014 owing to lower gold production at its Renco Mine, weak mineral prices and poor matte supplies at its Empress Nickel Refinery.

The group posted an after tax loss of $7.4 million with revenue down 39 percent to $39.3 million for the six months to June, but envisages an increased operating loss for the financial year under review when it releases the report on March 27.