Name of the Project
Darwendale platinum group metals (PGMs) project.

Location
Great Dyke, Zimbabwe.

Project Owner/s
Great Dyke Investments (GDI) is 50%-owned by Russia's Vi Holding, through its JSC Afromet subsidiary, and 50%-owned by Zimbabwe's Landela Mining Venture. 

Project Description
The Darwendale deposit is a part of the Great Dyke, one of the world’s largest systems of PGMs mineralisation, with shallow-dipping orebodies. The project has a resource of 181-million tonnes of ore containing 17.1-million ounces of PGMs and gold at an average grade of 2.93 g/t.

The project entails the construction of a PGMs mine and processing plant.

Envisaged is the gradual construction of mining, concentrating and smelting facilities, with all related infrastructure, in three stages.

The project will process up to ten-million tons of ore a year to eventually produce up to 855 000 oz/y of PGMs and gold, with Phase 1 of the project expected to produce about 280 000 oz/y of PGMs and gold.

A two-stage expansion plan will later increase production to about 860 000 oz/y of PGMs and gold.

The project has a mine life of about 15 years.

Potential Job Creation
About 1 350 jobs will be created with the development of Phase 1 of the project.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
Phase 1 of the project will cost about $500-million to develop.

Total investments to reach full capacity are estimated at $2-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
GDI plans to start mining platinum ore in 2021.

Latest Developments
GDI expects to raise up to $500-million for the first phase of its mining project by the end of this year after the coronavirus delayed talks with lenders.

GDI CEO Alex Ivanov has said that five institutions, including from Zimbabwe and Russia, are participating in a syndicated funding led by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), but has declined to name them.

"While some delays in funding arrangements caused by Covid-19 [and] associated disruptions have indeed been encountered since the beginning of 2020, financial closure is now expected by the end of the year," Ivanov has said.

Afreximbank had initially targeted raising $500-million by March 31.

Ivanov has said that GDI has passed technical, commercial and financial due diligence arranged by the lenders.

The funding will be in the form of debt and equity.

GDI has to date spent about $100-million, including on geological exploration and the construction of two mine portals and surface infrastructure.

Further, GDI has contracted an Italian company, FATA, part of Danieli Group, to construct a platinum concentrator.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
DRA (bankable feasibility study); Loesche, MSA Group, TOMS Institute and Metallicon (engineering and process design); PwC and SFA Oxford (analytical support); Cresco Project Finance and EY (financial advisers); and FATA, part of Danieli Group (platinum concentrator).

Contact Details for Project Information
GDI, tel +263 242 745659 or email info@greatdykeinvest.com.