RIOZIM Limited’s gold production dropped 17% to 929 kilogrammes in the financial year 2022 compared to the previous year due to the Dalny Mine being put on care and maintenance.
In a statement accompanying the group’s financial results for the year ended December 31, 2022, RioZim chairperson Saleem Beebeejaun said the group’s focus on optimising the BIOX plant at Cam and Motor Mine was also a contributory factor to the decline in gold production.
“Gold production recorded a 17% decline to 929kg from 1 122kg produced in the prior year. Dalny Mine was placed under full care and maintenance during the year, which exacerbated the decline in gold production for the current year,” he said.
Dalny was placed under full care and maintenance at the beginning of the year after it ran out of open pit resources that could be mined economically.
Consequently, there was no production during the current year, which is in contrast to the 209kg produced in 2021 when the mine was fully operational.
“In order to reduce the cash flow impact of the fixed care and maintenance costs, the mine embarked on small-scale mining operations, which were at an advanced stage as at year end,” the statement read.
The gold price remained firm and averaged US$1 766 per ounce for the year compared to US$1 774 in the prior year.
The group’s revenue for the year was $20,6 billion, which was an exponential increase from the prior year’s revenue of $5,8 billion despite the decline in gold production mainly due to the depreciation of the local currency against the United States dollar.
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The report indicates that the group’s operations at Renco Mine were significantly disrupted due to the power supply challenges which worsened in the current year and cut back production running time.
“Resultantly, gold production dropped by 28% from prior year’s production of 561kg to 402kg in the year under review,” Beebeejaun stated.
RioZim is, at the moment, focusing on back-up generators to lessen the negative impact of acute power supply deficits to the mine despite the higher operating costs these come with.
Mining operations at One-Step were discontinued at the end of 2021.
After the BIOX plant was brought into production, Cam & Motor Mine produced 527kg for the year, a 50% growth on the prior year.
Beebeejaun said the diamond mining unit Murowa managed to successfully complete and bring to production its Project Crown Jewel 500tph plant in the second half of the year.
Production at Murowa increased by 3% to 426 000 carats compared to 414 000 carats the previous year.
He said the future prospects of the group would depend on the successful performance of the BIOX plant at Cam & Motor Mine and the 500tph plant at Murowa.
