HARARE, Oct 7 – Zimbabwe’s state-owned Mutapa Platinum Group has secured $100 million in debt financing to restart development of the long-delayed Darwendale platinum project, with civil works now underway.
The financing reached financial close at the end of September, with disbursements already beginning, according to company executives. The project is expected to begin production in approximately 12 months under a phased development strategy.
“We reached financial closure on the project at the end of last month and secured $100 million,” Patrick Maseva-Shayawabaya, chief executive officer of sister company Mutapa Gold, told Bloomberg News in an interview in Harare.
The initial financing will support development of an open-pit mine, processing facilities, tailings storage and water infrastructure. Rather than immediately pursuing the project’s previously envisaged full-scale development, Mutapa plans to establish a smaller operation whose cash flows can help finance subsequent expansion.
The approach represents a significant reduction in scale from earlier plans for Darwendale, which was developed through Great Dyke Investments (GDI) and based on an estimated 44 million-ounce platinum-group metals resource.
GDI launched the project in September 2014, but repeated efforts to secure the required financing failed to deliver the planned development timetable. By late 2020, proposed financing packages had reached approximately $665 million.
Financing Challenges Delayed Development
The Darwendale project faced a series of financing challenges, including disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russian investor Vi Holding withdrew from the project in June 2022, with GDI citing Western sanctions affecting Russian investments abroad.
The project’s ownership structure subsequently became an additional consideration for potential international lenders, as financing a Russian-backed mining development in Zimbabwe presented sanctions-compliance issues alongside construction, commodity-price and country risks.
After years of delays, the latest financing allows Mutapa to proceed with a smaller initial development rather than waiting for the capital required for the project’s original configuration.
The phased strategy is intended to bring the mine into production sooner and use operating cash generation to support further development.
For Zimbabwe, the project represents another potential source of platinum-group metals production from the Great Dyke, one of the country’s most significant mineral regions, while the state seeks to expand investment and output across its mining sector.
