HARARE, Aug 11 – Ariana Resources expects to pour first gold from its Dokwe project in Zimbabwe in 2028, potentially making it one of the country’s most significant new mining developments in decades.
The project, located about 110 kilometres north-west of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, is the first large-scale greenfield gold development in the country in decades, according to Ariana Managing Director Kerim Sener.
Ariana plans to complete a definitive feasibility study for Dokwe during the first quarter of 2027. The company’s pre-feasibility study estimates the project has 1.13 million ounces of gold reserves and could produce as much as 100,000 ounces annually from an open-pit operation over an expected 20-year mine life.
The development comes as Zimbabwe’s gold industry continues to recover from years of limited large-scale foreign investment. International mining companies including Rio Tinto, Delta Gold and Kinross withdrew from the country more than two decades ago amid a prolonged period of political and economic instability.
“With a fair wind, I’d like to think that we’re pouring our first gold in 2028,” Sener told Reuters.
Since then, Zimbabwe’s gold production has been driven largely by mid-tier producers and small-scale miners reviving and expanding existing operations. Annual gold output reached 46.7 metric tons in 2025, compared with only 3 metric tons in 2008.
The country’s current mining landscape includes foreign-listed producers such as Caledonia Mining Corporation and Namib Minerals, state-backed Mutapa Gold Resources and a unit of locally owned Padenga.
Dokwe would represent a different type of investment because it is a greenfield development rather than an expansion or revival of an existing mine. Sener said Ariana viewed the deposit as particularly attractive because of its scale and its relatively straightforward processing characteristics.
“Dokwe represented an opportunity to tackle what is the largest undeveloped gold deposit in Zimbabwe at the present time,” Sener said.
He added that the project’s processing characteristics were another attraction, saying, “The other thing is the metallurgy. It looks to be fairly straightforward, a large part of the gold is amenable to gravity recovery.”
Ariana’s planned development comes as Zimbabwe seeks to attract more foreign investment into its mining sector and increase the contribution of mineral resources to economic growth. Gold remains one of the country’s most important sources of export earnings and foreign currency.
Sener said investor sentiment towards Zimbabwe was also changing under President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who came to power following the 2017 military intervention that ended Robert Mugabe’s long rule.
The company’s ability to move Dokwe from feasibility through construction and into production will depend on the outcome of the definitive feasibility study, project financing and subsequent development decisions. If the current timetable is maintained, first production in 2028 would mark an important milestone for Zimbabwe’s efforts to revive large-scale mining investment and expand its gold production base.
