Business / Companies
Pickstone Peerless targets 500kg of gold
24 Jan 2016 at 05:50hrs | Views
CHEGUTU-based Pickstone Peerless gold mine plans to produce over 500 kilogrammes of gold this year, spurred by a $17 million capital investment made in recent years.
The mine is projected to produce a minimum of 40kg of gold per month this year.
The gold mine, which is jointly owned by Dallaglio Investments - a special purpose vehicle established between Vast Resources (former ACR) and Grayfox Investments, a consortium of local investors - last year sunk more than $7 million in the construction of a brand new mine and working capital at the mine.
Over $10 million has been invested in exploration between 2006 and 2014.
Last week, Pickstone Peerless's mine manager, Mr Dennis Mtombeni told The Sunday Mail Business that production is already underway.
"We are already producing and obviously this year we want to produce more, it was already in our plans.
"On average, we plan to do a minimum of 40kg a month and we can raise production from there, but 40 kg per month is what is in our initial plans.
"Basically, in December (2015) we were drilling to get ore, so December and a bit of January we are still drilling to get samples (and now), we are doing reverse circulation to access the ore," said Mr Mtombeni.
It is feared that a sharp decline in international gold prices might scupper plans to raise production.
"If prices come down significantly, that will be a challenge because costs will be rising.
"But we are very hopeful that the gold price will rise, especially with everything going down, the gold price normally goes up because people hedge in gold," added Mr Mtombeni.
Gold prices shot up to US$1 107,10 per ounce last Wednesday, gaining $17,20 from the previous day.
The metal's peak price was in August 2011 when it hit US$1 921,41 per ounce.
Late last year, gold prices retreated to just under US$1 100, their lowest in more than five years as sellers in China offloaded the metal.
China is the top consumer of gold in the world.
Pickstone Peerless, which employs 200 people, does not anticipate major disruptions from power outages since it has a dedicated line.
The gold mine resumed operations last August while gold sales commenced in September.
Dallaglio Investments acquired Pickstone Peerless after failing to bag Falgold Zimbabwe's Dalny Mine as the proposed US$8 million transaction had taken too long to conclude.
The mine used to produce 400 000 ounces in the past.
Vast Resources has numerous other operations in Zimbabwe including the Gadzema Gold Project, Chishanya Phosphate Project, Perseverance Nickel Project, One Step Gold Project, Chakari Gold Project and Marange Diamond Project.
Government has set a target of 24 tonnes of gold this year, almost 5,5 tonnes more than last year's total haul.
Policies such as slashing the royalty rate for small-scale gold miners have improved the viability of the sector.
Gold output has since risen from three tonnes in 2008 to 18,6 tonnes last year.
The gold sector employs many people and the mineral's extraction is not as complex and expensive when compared to other minerals such as platinum and diamonds.
The mine is projected to produce a minimum of 40kg of gold per month this year.
The gold mine, which is jointly owned by Dallaglio Investments - a special purpose vehicle established between Vast Resources (former ACR) and Grayfox Investments, a consortium of local investors - last year sunk more than $7 million in the construction of a brand new mine and working capital at the mine.
Over $10 million has been invested in exploration between 2006 and 2014.
Last week, Pickstone Peerless's mine manager, Mr Dennis Mtombeni told The Sunday Mail Business that production is already underway.
"We are already producing and obviously this year we want to produce more, it was already in our plans.
"On average, we plan to do a minimum of 40kg a month and we can raise production from there, but 40 kg per month is what is in our initial plans.
"Basically, in December (2015) we were drilling to get ore, so December and a bit of January we are still drilling to get samples (and now), we are doing reverse circulation to access the ore," said Mr Mtombeni.
It is feared that a sharp decline in international gold prices might scupper plans to raise production.
"If prices come down significantly, that will be a challenge because costs will be rising.
"But we are very hopeful that the gold price will rise, especially with everything going down, the gold price normally goes up because people hedge in gold," added Mr Mtombeni.
Gold prices shot up to US$1 107,10 per ounce last Wednesday, gaining $17,20 from the previous day.
The metal's peak price was in August 2011 when it hit US$1 921,41 per ounce.
Late last year, gold prices retreated to just under US$1 100, their lowest in more than five years as sellers in China offloaded the metal.
China is the top consumer of gold in the world.
Pickstone Peerless, which employs 200 people, does not anticipate major disruptions from power outages since it has a dedicated line.
The gold mine resumed operations last August while gold sales commenced in September.
Dallaglio Investments acquired Pickstone Peerless after failing to bag Falgold Zimbabwe's Dalny Mine as the proposed US$8 million transaction had taken too long to conclude.
The mine used to produce 400 000 ounces in the past.
Vast Resources has numerous other operations in Zimbabwe including the Gadzema Gold Project, Chishanya Phosphate Project, Perseverance Nickel Project, One Step Gold Project, Chakari Gold Project and Marange Diamond Project.
Government has set a target of 24 tonnes of gold this year, almost 5,5 tonnes more than last year's total haul.
Policies such as slashing the royalty rate for small-scale gold miners have improved the viability of the sector.
Gold output has since risen from three tonnes in 2008 to 18,6 tonnes last year.
The gold sector employs many people and the mineral's extraction is not as complex and expensive when compared to other minerals such as platinum and diamonds.
Source - sundaymail
