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RioZim Ltd., a Zimbabwean nickel, gold and diamond miner, may re-open its metals refinery (Empress Nickel Refinery) in the southern African nation if talks with an unidentified platinum supplier succeed, officials said.Recommissioning the smelter that used to process nickel follows the re-opening of RioZim’s Cam and Motor Gold Mine at a cost of about $10 million. The company expects to produce about 130 kilogrammes of gold monthly, Chairman Lovemore Chihota said in an interview at the facility in the Kadoma district about 140 kilometres west of Harare, the capital.
“We’re looking to re-open the smelter in the next three months and are in discussion with a potential supplier of platinum group metals,” general manager Claver Kariwo said,adding that it was closed in 2013.
Zimbabwe, which has the world’s biggest platinum reserves after South Africa, doesn’t have facilities to process the ore locally and sends it to plants in the neighbouring country. The Government has told producers including Anglo American Platinum Ltd., the largest, and Zimplats Ltd. that they must work toward smelting the metal locally or face penalties. – Bloomberg.
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