Source: Shabanie Mine sits on $1bn reserves – Sunday News Feb 25, 2018
Munyaradzi Musiiwa, Midlands Correspondent
SHABANIE-MASHAVA Mining Holdings is sitting on $1 billion worth of asbestos mineral reserves at Shabanie Mine which has a life span of about 17 years of exploitation.
In an interview, Shabanie Mine chief executive officer Mr Chirandu Dhlembeu said the company was sitting on $1 billion worth of asbestos and needed about $120 million to resume operations and settle some of its debts.
“The company has $1 billion worth of reserves developed. This can last for close to 17 years. The company needs $120 million for it to start operating on full capacity. The $120 million will also go towards settling debts with creditors,” he said.
The asbestos miner has announced that it will soon dispose of some of its assets to raise $196 million capital to resume operations. Some of the assets earmarked for disposal include chrome, gold, nickel, lime and tantalite claims mostly along the great dyke, as well as houses in Zvishavane and Mashava.
The company has since bought de-watering equipment from Europe in preparation for resumption of operations after more than a decade. SMM ceased operations in 2004. The Government, which has since raised funds for the resuscitation of SMM through the sale of a reprocessed dump, appointed Mr Arafas Gwaradzimba as the company’s judicial manager.
Some of the mine shafts have over the years been neglected leaving the company’s equipment submerged in water.
However, recent efforts to re-open SMM have seen the firm embarking on a de-watering exercise expected to be completed before the end of the year.
The asbestos miner has started recruiting workers and targets to employ 800 people by the end of the year. At its peak, SMM employed 4 500 people.
The asbestos miner, in its efforts to turnaround, has been shoring up funding locally using its own resources and is looking for a partner to extract and process minerals from its asbestos tailing dumps.
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