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

Location
Great Dyke, Zimbabwe.

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

In December 2020, GDI sold a 4.4% stake in the project to Fossil Mines as Covid-19 disrupted fundraising for the venture.

Fossil, owned by Zimbabwe’s Obey Chimuka, will invest $30-million in the Darwendale project, through a combination of cash and services, including for engineering, procurement and construction. That leaves tycoon Vitaliy Machitski’s Vi Holding and Zimbabwe’s Landela Mining Venture each with a 47.8% stake. The sale values Great Dyke Investments at $680-million.

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
None stated.

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.