adminMartin Kadzere Senior Business Reporter
GAT Investments, a local company with interest in mining is evaluating the potential of extracting new pyrites deposits in Mazowe, about 40 kilometres north of Harare.
Pyrites are mostly used in the production of sulphuric acid, a critical raw material for fertiliser.
GAT owns Iron Duke Mine which has been dysfunctional since 2008.
The mine produced pyrites for Zimphos, while the bulk of it was exported to the Zambian Copperbelt province where it is used as a catalyst in the smelting of copper and cobalt.
The company has contracted MDM Engineering as feasibility study leaders, GAT director Mr Victor Gapare this week said the whole process is expected to be completed by June 2015 “after which we will have a definitive feasibility study for a new mine.”
“With regards to the feasibility study on our sulphide project, we have carried out 14 000 metres of infill drilling in addition to the 17 000 metres we had done in 2011/ 12,” said Mr Gapare.
“SRK Consultants are in the process of updating the resource statement and putting economic parameters to determine the economic resource.”
Mr Gapare, a former Chamber of Mines president said GAT has since appointed Mintek of South Africa to carry out metallurgical test work on the ore body to determine the processing method.
He could not disclose how much would be spent on the exercise.
Last year, GAT got US$2 million from a fund in Asia for the development on pyrites deposits. The company also got US$10 million for its Bilboes Holdings, a gold-focused mining and exploration company. Bilboes owns and operates four gold mines namely Isabella, Bubi, When and McCays all in the Bubi Greenstone belt of Zimbabwe.
Mr Gapare said the funds were deployed towards the purchase of equipment to resuscitate gold operations. “Mining operations commenced in June 2013 but the difficult local operating environment has made it difficult for us to achieve our (production) targets,” said Mr Gapare.
“As you know, gold prices have fallen from around US$1 800 per ounce to around US$1 200 in the last few months which has put a strain on cash flows.
“We have struggled with high royalties of 7 percent of turnover which were set when the gold price was around US$1 700-US$1 800.
“With the gold price now around US$1 200, the royalties should really be around 3 percent.
“We have also struggled with high electricity charges of around USC12,8/kwh compared to a rate of around US6c to US9c/kwh which everyone else in the economy is charged by ZESA.”
The Chamber of Mines has since made representations to Government to have the charges reviewed.
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Charles Duri