Implats triples platinum smelting in Zimbabwe with new plant

News24

24-07-2025

Impala Platinum's Zimbabwe unit is tripling its processing capacity in the country and plans to handle concentrates from other mining firms at its new smelter.
The plant, part of Zimplats's $1.8 billion expansion plan, has the capacity to process 380 000 tons of concentrate annually, Zimplats Chair Thandi Orleyn said at the smelter's commissioning ceremony in Selous, 80 kilometers west of the capital Harare. The country's biggest platinum miner has already allocated $1.1 billion of its 10-year investment plan, which runs through 2031, she added.
The plant 'is well positioned to handle feeds from other PGM producers presently in existence and in the future,' she said, referring to so-called platinum group metals used in several industries for their resistance to corrosion and heat, as well as catalytic properties.
The expansion reflects a wider push across Africa to add value to natural resources before exporting them. Several mining operations in the continent have been seized or disrupted due to disputes with governments over taxes and investments, such as Barrick Mining's Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex in Mali. In Zimbabwe, the central bank's retention of hard currency from exporters has been one of the challenges faced by producers.
Orleyn told Bloomberg on the sidelines of the ceremony that the company has raised concerns about the country's currency volatility with the Zimbabwean authorities.
'There is a sense that this is a long-term relationship and the currency volatility in a geopolitical environment as we are facing at the moment is something to be expected,' she said
The Southern African nation has the world's third-largest platinum reserves after Russia and South Africa.
Zimbabwe generates more than half of its revenues from exports of minerals including gold, chrome and diamonds.