- There was no gold production at Dalny Mine
- Renco’s gold output declined by 28%
- Overall gold output decreased by 17%
Harare- The mining concern listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, RioZim Limited Zimbabwe says recurrent electricity power cuts in the full year to December 2022 dampened its gold output at Renco Mine, its flagship asset by 28% from prior year’s production of 561kg to 402kg.
In the presentation of its FY financials for the period to December 2022, the Group’s chairperson Saleem Beebeejaun said the blackouts rattled running production time resulting in low productivity.
There was no production at Dalny Mine as it was placed under full care and maintenance from the beginning of the year after it ran out of open pit resources that could be mined economically at sustainable grades. In FY2021, Dalny produced when it was fully operational.
At One Step Mine, mining operations were discontinued at the end of 2021 as Beebeejaun said they were focusing on the resumption of mining operations at the Cam & Motor pits in preparation for the running of the BIOX plant which was at completion stage at the beginning of the year. Hence, no gold was produced from One-Step in the FY2022.
On the other hand, Beebeejaun said Cam and Motor Mine experienced some teething challenges in addition to excessive power cuts. Resultantly, the mine produced 527kg compared to 351kg produced in the prior year.
This indicates that Renco was the only mine that anchored gold production at RioZim Limited.
Resultantly, overall gold production recorded a 17% decline to 929kg from 1122kg produced in the prior year.
“Dalny was placed under full care and maintenance during the year, which exacerbated the decline in gold production for the current year,” Beebeejaun said.
Due to electricity deficits, Renco Mine’s gold production in the HY to FY2022 declined by 37% resulting in the overall depressed gold output for the Group.
RioZim had been facing production challenges since 2018. With the reintroduction of the Zimbabwe dollar in 2019, RioZim, production dropped by 20% to 366kg for the third quarter to September 2019, compared to the same period in 2018. In early 2019, RioZim temporarily shut down its operations over delays in gold payments from Fidelity. This was the second time, after October 2018, that the company halted operations.
RioZim further reported depressed gold output for the full years 2020 and 2021 respectively due to power cuts, aggressive taxation policies and shortages of foreign currency despite being an exporter of gold.
The curses being faced by mining outfits, if not addressed will rattle government’s target of a US$4 billion gold industry in 2023 and an overall US$12 billion mining industry respectively.
The Group’s revenue for the year was ZW$20.6 billion, which was an exponential increase from the prior year’s revenue of ZW$5.8 billion.
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