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B2Gold of Canada weighs acquiring gold assets in Zimbabwe

Published

4 years ago

November 27, 2021

BY FELIX NJINI AND KATARINA HOIJE

B2Gold Corp., the Canadian company that owns mines in Africa and the Philippines, is interested in acquiring gold assets in Zimbabwe.

The mid-tier gold producer, which has mines in Mali, Namibia and the Philippines, has held talks with the government and other officials in the southern African nation “to see if they are ready for us to come in,” said Clive Johnson, chief executive officer of the Vancouver-based company.

“There is really a strong case and we are making that case in Zimbabwe,” Johnson said in a November 24 interview. “We are looking at it as intriguing potential with some advanced projects as well as exploration potential.”

B2Gold weighed buying an idled Zimbabwean gold mine two years ago, but wanted authorities to exempt it from a law that forces miners to sell all the metal to a unit of the country’s central bank, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the details.

Zimbabwe desperately needs fresh investment in its key mining sector to reboot a struggling economy.

Still, forcing gold miners to sell the bulk of their bullion to the central bank unit, Fidelity Printers and Refiners Ltd., which then pays them back partly in dollars and partly in rapidly depreciating local currency, is unnerving to new investors.

Winston Chitando, the mines minister, said that B2Gold has shown interest in investing and is holding talks with privately owned gold mining comnpanies.

B2Gold would consider buying operating assets in Zimbabwe and also enter into joint ventures and the company could also explore the potential for establishing a milling plant, the CEO said.

The miner is also searching for gold in Finland, Uzbekistan and is seeking to build a new mine at the Gramalote project in Colombia with AngloGold Ashanti Ltd.

Zimbabwe’s output of the precious metal, which the nation relies on for most of its foreign-exchange earnings, is forecast to rise 12 percent to 28 tons this year, Fidelity Printers said.

The government has previously projected gold production to increase to 100 tonnes by 2023.

“It’s an interesting area for us geologically and that’s what we looking for in the world,” said Johnson, who has led the company since it was founded in 2007.

“We will probably enter the first part of next year a bit more confident to talk more about what we see there as the potential.” – Bloomberg

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Renowned conservationist Alan Elliott passes away at 86

Published

2 days ago

August 1, 2025

VicFallsLive

BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

The conservation world is mourning the loss of Alan Elliott, a pioneering conservationist and tourism operator who passed away this morning around 2AM at Materdei Hospital in Bulawayo.

Elliott, affectionately known as “Mandebele,” was 86 years old.

Photo by Charlene Hewat

Elliott’s contributions to conservation and tourism in Zimbabwe are immeasurable. He was one of the first people to bring tourism to Hwange, Zimbabwe’s largest national park, and founded Touch the Wild, a tourism operation that hosted numerous celebrities, including the Queen and Prince Philip.

We then contacted Charlene Hewat, a close associate of Elliott’s Presidential Elephant Research Trust (PERT), to explain further about his conservation work. Hewat described Elliott as an extraordinary conservationist who dedicated his life to protecting elephants. “Alan’s legacy is imprinted on the wild landscapes he loved so dearly and protected so fiercely,” Hewat said in a Facebook post.

In an interview, Hewat elaborated on Elliott’s work, highlighting his efforts to protect elephants in Hwange. “He went and got a decree from President (Robert) Mugabe to protect the presidential elephants, and he received that decree, and they agreed that they would not shoot any elephants within the Dete Hwange area,” Hewat explained.

Elliott’s passing has sent shockwaves throughout the conservation community, with many paying tribute to his remarkable legacy. “He’s a legend. Everybody knows him,” Hewat said. “He was an MP in Hwange, spoke fluent Ndebele, and knew a lot of the ministers. He’s just an amazing man, a legend for Zimbabwe.”

As a testament to his enduring legacy, Elliott had asked Hewat to carry on his work with the Presidential Elephant Research Trust. “It was his vision to promote young Zimbabwean researchers, and that’s something that I share and think we can take forward for the country and for the youth,” Hewat said.

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UPDATE: ZimParks rangers injured in elephant attack receiving medical treatment

Published

2 days ago

August 1, 2025

VicFallsLive

BY STAFF REPORTER

The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) spokesperson, Tinashe Farawo has provided an update on the condition of two rangers who were injured earlier this week by elephants in the Sengwa, Chirisa Safari area.

The rangers, who were investigating a reported case of a snared buffalo, encountered a herd of elephants with calves that charged at them.

According to the update, one of the rangers has undergone treatment for his left arm and is currently in a stable condition.

The other ranger had a successful abdominal operation and is currently receiving surgery for his broken left arm and left leg.

The incident highlights the dangers faced by wildlife rangers in Zimbabwe. In a similar incident in March 2025, a Zimparks ranger was killed by an elephant in Kariba during a routine patrol in the Gatche-gatche area.

The authority has encouraged people to minimize movements at night to reduce the risk of human-wildlife conflicts.

National

Zimbabwe on track for 6% growth as economy recovers from drought

Published

2 days ago

August 1, 2025

VicFallsLive

BY REUTERS

Zimbabwe is on track to achieve a forecasted 6% economic growth in 2025 helped by good agricultural output and strong commodity prices, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said on Thursday.

The Southern African country’s economy has shown signs of recovery in the first half of the year following a severe drought and currency turbulence in 2024 that pushed GDP growth down to 2%.

“Given the positive economic developments during the period January to June, we are confident that the projected economic growth of 6% alluded to in the 2025 National Budget is achievable,” Ncube told parliament in a mid-year budget review.

“All sectors of the economy are expected to record positive growth in 2025, mainly on account of a favourable agriculture season, improved electricity generation, stable exchange rate and inflation rate,” he said.

He did not give an update on the budget deficit, which was seen at 0.4% of gross domestic product in 2025 during the budget forecast last November.

Zimbabwe’s fiscal position remains under strain from grain imports, drought relief spending and the public sector wage bill. While the government has collected more revenue than in the same period last year, analysts say containing the deficit may prove difficult without new fiscal measures.

The local currency, the ZiG, launched in April 2024 to replace the Zimbabwe dollar, has largely remained stable against the U.S. dollar but is still overshadowed by widespread use of the dollar in everyday transactions.

Ncube reiterated the government’s commitment to the gold-backed unit and said the currency had benefited from tight monetary and fiscal policies.