African Mining May 2023 | Page 21

EXCURSION • and supported by good infrastructure , including road and power access in the project area .

“ Developing a Tier1 project in this unique geological setting comes once in a lifetime ,” Bernard Pryor , MD of Karo Mining told investors , “ If one wants to be in platinum , clearly the Bushveld Complex and the Great Dyke are two premier destinations .”

The investment already made at the time of the investor presentation had been in the order of USD70.3-million boasting the following economic highlights : An ‘ enhanced phase one ’ in development with a refined / optimised mining plan having reduced the previous 20-year open pit LOM to 17 years , with increased throughput from an annual PGM production of 150 000 to 194 000 ounces ( 6E – platinum , palladium , rhodium , ruthenium , osmium and gold ); and a fully licenced and permitted project presenting a low risk approach , similar to that of the Tharisa Mine – being an open pit , scalable , low cost mine adopting a multi-phased development approach with a short timeline of 24 months to delivery of first ore .

Solid ESG foundation Karo Platinum is firmly based on ESG ( Environmental , Social and Governance ) undertakings , said Pryor . Mining in Zimbabwe contributes between 10 and 14 % to the country ’ s GDP and according to Pryor , approximately 2 % of the country ' s GDP will come from Karo revenues . During construction the project will also provide around 1 000 direct jobs . Using the industry norm of a seven times multiplier , the project is set to add another 7 000 indirect job opportunities for local communities , as Karo will prioritise local recruitment and skills development . “ The workforce in Zimbabwe is capable , well educated , and has a great work ethic , which will stand the project in good stead to come in on time and on budget . We will target about 95 % Zimbabwean employee make-up during construction , and that will creep up to 98 / 99 % during operations ,” Pryor explained .

“ We have completed an ESI that is compliant to the IFC , which has been approved for both the mining and the concentrator processing plant .” He further emphasised that with regards to TSF ( Temporary Storage Facility ) management , the Karo tailings dam is structurally safer in that it is rock built , not earth nor dam built , and it has been independently designed and vetted .

Pryor added , “ We will have a dedicated social and environmental team to ensure that we meet all RAP and ESG obligations .” Twelve households will be relocated in phase one with full government support to land allocated near the town of Chegutu , close to power and water supplies , which is not the case at these homes currently .

“ Green energy and green efficiency are yet another benefit of this project ,” said Pryor , Total Eren having signed a Memorandum of Understanding ( MOU ) to partner on and develop , finance , build and operate a 300MW solar photovoltaic ( PV ) project that will provide 30MW of competitive solar electricity to Karo through a wheeling arrangement . Power will also be sold into the national grid .

Unprecedented speed in project execution With over USD70-million invested to date , Karo is in the process of raising funds via a proposed bond listing on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange , which will be used in part to fund the development of the Karo Platinum Project , which has a total capital cost for phase one of USD391-million .

The project is seeing the establishment of a large scale vertically integrated PGM mining complex and Karo will design and construct fully integrated facilities to ensure the maximum extraction of

Approximately 2 % of Zimbabwe ’ s ' s GDP will come from Karo revenues .