ZIDA pushes for local financing in early-stage mining projects
The Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) has called for increased local financing of early-stage mining projects, warning that the country risks missing out on major international investment without strong exploration.
Mining remains Zimbabwe’s largest draw for foreign direct investment, accounting for the bulk of licences processed by Zida since its establishment in 2020.
The country boasts of vast mineral wealth, including gold, platinum group metals, lithium, chrome and coal, but experts say much of it remains underexplored.
According to the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe (CoMZ), over 50 000 mining claims are registered in Zimbabwe, yet a significant number remain undeveloped due to financial constraints, particularly in the early stages when risks are high.
Despite significant interest, large-scale international mining investments have slowed showing interest in recent years, partly due to policy uncertainty, project bankability issues, currency volatility, ownership rights concerns, corruption and limited geological data.
“We license more mining investors than any other sector and this trend has held steady over the past two years. But the truth is, we haven’t landed a big mining house in a while and it all starts with early exploration,” Zida’s chief executive officer, Tafadzwa Chinamo, said during a panel discussion at the CoMZ annual conference last week.
“Zimbabwe’s mining value chain is being stifled at the initial stages because we lack funding models tailored for high-risk exploration. Unlike Canada or Australia, we don’t have a culture of supporting small, early-stage ventures, which are the foundation of larger mining projects.”
Chinamo said exploration did not require vast sums of capital to begin.
“You don’t need hundreds of millions of dollars to start exploration,” he said.
“What we need is for local pension funds, institutional investors and the stock exchange to have skin in the game from the beginning. That’s how you build a pipeline of attractive assets.”
While several mining ventures are already operational, the Zida boss argued that unlocking Zimbabwe’s full mineral potential depended on strengthening exploration.
“There’s a missing link,” Chinamo said, adding, “Without proper early-stage exploration, you’re not going to see serious international mining houses taking an interest. They invest in proven assets and proving those assets requires groundwork exploration that’s financed early and locally.”
Zida is engaging financial institutions and regulators to promote domestic funding mechanisms while lobbying for policy reforms to allow junior miners to raise capital locally, he
said.
This raise will include structured listings or special-purpose investment vehicles.
“The groundwork we lay now will determine the scale of mining investment we attract over the next decade,” Chinamo said.
He reiterated that local capital must take the lead.
“If we don’t build our capacity to support early exploration, we won’t have the assets to showcase to big investors,” Chinamo warned.
In Zida’s first quarter report, the licences issued in the mining sector had a projected investment value of US$906,8 million, representing around 19% of the overall amount.
