adminNew Dawn said its five mining operations in Zimbabwe which include Dalny, Golden Quarry, Turk and Angelus Mines were presently running and have contributed to the country’s economy in various ways.
“The company has invested in excess of $13 million in its Zimbabwe operations during the year ended 30 September 2012. Payments in respect of royalties, taxes, licence fees, levies and other amounts to the Government of Zimbabwe and various local authorities amounted to $10,439,985 for the year ended 30 September 2012, equal to 16,8 percent of the company’s gross revenues, while net income allocable to common shareholders and non-controlling interests was only $2,860,551 for the same period,” said New Dawn in a statement.
The company said its workforce in Zimbabwe grew 66,6 percent between 30 September 2010 to 2 818 as at 30 September this year.
The company said it had invested more than $23 million in the country over the past two years.
In line with the Buy Zimbabwe initiative, which is aimed at promoting usage of locally manufactured goods, the mining entity said it was sourcing a majority of its operational supplies and services from businesses in Zimbabwe.
It said it was also contributing materially to the health, education, welfare and support of the people in the villages around its mine sites.
“The finalisation and implementation of the company’s Plan of Indigenisation and the potential funding from indigenous investor groups are expected to provide New Dawn with access to additional capital resources to support its efforts to increase sustainable gold production from its properties in Zimbabwe, thus expanding its employee base and contributing to the overall growth and development of the Zimbabwe economy,” said the mining firm.
Commenting on operational overview, New Dawn said as a result of increasing production and strong gold prices, it had increased sales and revenue during the year under review.
“However, continuing cost pressures and certain operational challenges, including the effects of a reassessment of the geological model at the Turk and Angelus Mine and the slower than planned transition from processing low grade tailings sands to accessing higher grade underground mineralised material at Dalny Mine, combined to cause production inefficiencies and resulted in reduced net income for fiscal 2012 as compared to fiscal 2011, as well as a small net loss reported for the quarter ended 30 September 2012.”
Responding to the operational issues and other external factors, and with the completion of its present plans, the company has recently revised its overall near-term operating strategy to a more steady-state production model.
“This change in approach will provide additional time in fiscal 2013 for the company to continue to address the operational issues encountered at its various operations.
“As the company expects implementation of this change to take several months, the results for the quarter ending 31 December 2012 are likely to be similar to those for the quarter ended 30 September 2012.”
During the year New Dawn continued implementing its growth strategy resulting in the completion of a number of plant and infrastructure expansion projects.
The fiscal year saw the completion and successful commissioning of the deswick mill at Turk and Angelus Mines, as well as plant expansion at Golden Quarry and Dalny Mines.
In addition, access was gained to the lower levels of Dalny Mine as dewatering passed level 18 with the result that underground mineralised material at that location was now being processed.
The company completed essentially all of the improvements that could be reasonably financed from operational cash flow.
It is hoped that the next phase of development would be implemented once appropriate funding was arranged and this is likely when the indigenisation process has been finalised.
Online Reporter