Zimbabwe’s Padenga Holdings, a leading producer of crocodile skins and meat, plans to spend $25 million on its gold mining business by the end of 2023 to diversify its income sources and boost its output.
Padenga owns two gold mining units, Dallaglio and Eureka, which operate in the country’s mineral-rich Midlands and Mashonaland West provinces. Dallaglio runs the Pickstone Peerless and Cordillera mines near Chegutu, while Eureka is near Guruve.
According to the company’s chief financial officer, Oliver Kamundimu, most of the capital expenditure will go towards expanding the Pickstone Peerless underground mine, which has potential high-grade gold reserves. The company also intends to re-equip and regenerate the Eureka mine, which was reopened in 2019 after being idle for 18 years.
The expansion project is expected to increase Padenga’s annual gold production to around 250,000 ounces, up from 63,000 ounces in 2022. Kamundimu said the company was confident of achieving its targets despite the challenges posed by power shortages and foreign currency constraints.
Padenga is one of the few mining investors who have remained committed to Zimbabwe, a country that has vast mineral resources but has struggled to attract foreign capital due to political and economic instability. The company has also acquired two exploration projects, Motapa and Maligreen, in southern Zimbabwe, where it hopes to discover more gold deposits.
Padenga’s gold mining business contributed 84% of the group’s total revenue of $74.4 million in the first half of 2023, while its crocodile farming business accounted for 16%. The company also declared an interim dividend of 0.19 US cents per share, reflecting its strong performance and positive outlook.
Padenga’s investment in gold mining aligns with the government’s vision of making Zimbabwe a US$12 billion mining economy by 2023. Gold is one of the country’s top foreign currency earners, along with tobacco and platinum. According to the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, Zimbabwe produced 19 tonnes of gold in 2022 and aims to produce 30 in 2023.
Source: The Herald
