Investment Opportunities

Zimbabwe has a huge and highly diversified mineral resource base dominated by two prominent geological features namely the famous Great Dyke and the ancient Greenstone Belts, also known as Gold Belts.

The Great Dyke is a layered igneous complex extending north-south for about 550 km. The Great Dyke plays host to the world’s largest high grade chromite resource base.  Zimbabwe has the world’s second largest resource of platinum group of metals as well as significant reserves of copper and nickel.  

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Geological Map of Zimbabwe

With rock ages spanning a period of more than 3000 million years, Zimbabwe’s heterogeneous geological environment is favourable to occurrences of a variety of minerals and ore bodies. The following is an overview of some of the major minerals found in Zimbabwe:

Gold

There are over 4 000 recorded gold deposits, nearly all of them located on ancient workings.The country remains under-explored to discover deposits away from these ancient workings. More than 90% of gold deposits in Zimbabwe are associated with greenstone belts which are some of the richest in the world. Other gold deposits occur in the Limpopo Mobile Belt in the south of the country and in the Proterozoic Piriwiri rocks in the North Western part of the country.

Diamonds

Diamond is a gemstone of enormous potential in Zimbabwe. Globally economic kimberlites are commonly found in ancient cratons such as the Kaapvaal, the Siberia and the Congo cratons. With similar geology to these areas, the well exposed Zimbabwe craton presents vast opportunities for kimberlitic diamond discoveries. The recent discovery of significant placer diamond deposits at Chiadzwa points to significant potential in ancient basins on the edges of the craton. If the deposits are mined extensively, it is believed that Zimbabwe has the potential of being a major player in global diamond production. Zimbabwe is known to host several kimberlites whose economic and commercial viability is yet to be ascertained.

Platinum Group Metals

Zimbabwe hosts the second largest platinum group metals (PGMs) resource in the world on the Great Dyke. An estimate of 2.8 billion tonnes PGM ore at 4g/t 4e are estimated to lounge on the Dyke. Grade and thickness of ore body persist over large areas. There are two PGM-bearing horizons, the Main Sulphide Zone (MSZ) and the Lower Sulphide Zone (LSZ). Current mining is focussed on the MSZ. The LSZ is still to be investigated in greater detail.

Coal

Zimbabwe hosts large reserves of coal in the Lower Karoo rocks of the mid Zambezi Basin and the Save-Limpopo basin. Over 29 coal localities are known with an estimated resource of more than 12 billion tonnes. Production was previously confined to the Zambezi Valley but recently there has been limited coal production from the Sengwa coalfields near Gokwe, Mkwasine coalfield near Chiredzi and the Tuli coalfield near Beitbridge. The full potential is however yet to be exploited. The coal is high grade suitable for both thermal power generation and coking purposes in metallurgical furnaces.

Chrome

Chrome ore occurs in two distinct geological environments namely the Great Dyke and the greenstone belts. Chromite reserves on the Great Dyke approximate 10 Billion tonnes. Zimbabwe is estimated to host over 80% of the world’s resources of metallurgical quality chromite mainly on the Great Dyke. Chromic oxide range from 47% to 60% and chromium/iron ratios ranges between 2.2 and 4 to 1. Greenstone belt deposits occur in some ultramafic rocks of the Shurugwi, Mashava and Belingwe greenstone belts, and ultramfic bodies in the Limpopo Mobile Belt.

Nickel

The geology of Zimbabwe is highly favourable for nickel occurrences. The country’s nickel sulphide endowment includes a variety of komatiite and mafic intrusion-hosted deposits. Potential ore reserves are not known but more than 30 deposits have been discovered Other sources of nickel are the huge laterite nickel deposits on the northern part of the Great Dyke and oxide nickel deposits in several serpentinite areas in greenstone belts and igneous complexes around the country.

Copper

There are over 70 known deposits in Zimbabwe that have produced copper either as a primary or secondary product. The main producing area has been the Magondi Basin in an area stretching for over 150km. Similar copper deposits are found in the south-eastern part of the country in the Umkondo Basin. Several copper prospects also occur in greenstone belts.

Iron Ore

Zimbabwe has huge iron ore deposits associated with banded ironstone formations in greenstone belts. Major deposits are estimated to be over 30 billion tonnes of reserves. Deposits with high-grade ore are found in Buchwa and Ripple Creek. Significant ironstone deposits include the huge Mwanesi deposit west of Chivhu and Nyuni near Masvingo. Manyoka and Mongula and several similar deposits in the Limpopo Mobile Belt are also important deposits.

Pegmatite minerals

Pegmatites, which are ubiquitous in several geological environments, especially on the edges of greenstone and in metamorphic belts, are a source of a variety of minerals including tantalite, tin and wolframite, beryl, mica, feldspar, and gemstones such as emerald, aquamarine, chrysoberyl, alexandrite and euclase.

Dimension stones

Granites, gneisses, migmatites, gabbro-norites, dolerite, marbles and quartzites suitable for use as dimension stones, are typical rocks belonging to Zimbabwe’s geological environments. The most well-known dimension stone in Zimbabwe is black granite ubiquitous in the north-eastern part of the country which has attracted considerable foreign investors.