Karo Resources to invest $4.2 billion into Zimbabwe's mining sector
Zimbabwe’s mining sector looks like it will receive a significant boost, after it was announced that a multi-billion-dollar deal had been struck between the mine ministry and a leading PGM mine operator.
Cyprus-based Karo Resources has entered into an agreement with Mines Minister Winston Chitando to invest up to $4.2 billion to develop a platinum mine and refinery in Zimbabwe.
The deal, which will be the largest in the entire history of Zimbabwe’s mining industry, will see Karo Resources look to establish a platinum project capable of producing 1.4 million ounces a year of PGM metals.
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With a start-up date targeted for 2020, the project could become the largest producing mine of PGM resources by 2023.
Located in the Mhondoro-Ngezi platinum belt, west of Harare, where Impala Platinum Holdings has operations, the project will include a coal mine and power station to produce electricity for the smelter, and should employ 15,000 people when fully implemented, Karo head Loucas Pouroulis told Reuters.