The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) has been requested to electrify London-listed Premier African Minerals’ RHA tungsten mine, with the project now considered a priority for the Zimbabwean government.
Premier, which holds a 49% interest in RHA and is the operator, on Wednesday said essential in-country mine repairs were to start immediately.
This follows after a successful meeting between Premier and the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Fund, which has reaffirmed its commitment to providing additional RTGS dollar-based funding to the extent this is reasonably necessary to bring RHA back into production.
Premier CEO George Roach believes the value of the in-country funds provided by the Zimbabwe government to support the project has been generally misunderstood.
“For example, Zesa has now quoted to electrify the mine at a price which is only [about] 30% greater in RTGS dollars than the original quotation that was denominated in US dollars.”
Roach noted that while it was inconclusive as to whether the funds provided to date would be sufficient to bring RHA back into production, “it is certain that the payment by RHA of local operating costs within Zimbabwe has not been seriously adversely affected by the funding in RTGS dollars, particularly with regard to transactions involving State-owned entities”.