British mining company Cluff Africa intends to return to Zimbabwe to participate in the Mutapa Fund’s investment in lithium mining in Mberengwa after an invitation from President Mnangagwa to reinvest in this country.
The company’s president, Mr. Elgie Clough, and his accompanying delegation met yesterday with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Dr. Frederic Shava, and discussed investment opportunities in the country.
Minister Shava said the meeting was a follow-up to the meeting in which President Mnangagwa met Mr Clough at the coronation of King Charles III last year.
It is a follow-up to the meetings the President held in London during the coronation of King Charles III. The President held meetings with British business people, especially members of the Westminster parliamentary group, of which Mr. Clough was part.
“He complained at the time that he wanted to continue mining in Zimbabwe but left for his reasons after land reform. He was inquiring with President Dr Mnangagwa if he could still pursue possibilities of coming to Zimbabwe. “He was reminding the then President that he was a pioneer,” Dr Shava said. Frida-Rebecca Mining Company in Bindura.
The president immediately invited him to return and invest in the country.
“The president has encouraged him to come back and negotiate to re-establish himself and that is why he is here now. They are proposing to go into a partnership in lithium mining in Sandwana with the Motapa Investment Fund and they are also proposing a partnership with the Motapa Fund, where Clough will own 65 percent and the Motapa Fund will own 35 percent.
“They are also proposing that of the shares that Cluff will own, they will give 10 percent to the workers and we said that is commendable.
“Then they will look for other possibilities in Zimbabwe and are confident they can resume mining projects in Zimbabwe through this type of partnership.
The Minister said that the visit of Mr. Clough and his accompanying delegation was an indication of the country’s successful re-engagement with countries that had withdrawn from Zimbabwe as a response to land reform in the country.
“Now that land reform is behind us, everyone has settled down and we are re-engaging them, talking to them, encouraging them to go back and find a starting point like Clough did.
Mr Clough said he was happy to return and reinvest in the country.
“I am very happy to be back in Zimbabwe where I was among the first investors in the mining sector after independence in 1980.
“We came back at the invitation of the president and are thinking about investing, big investments in industrial minerals.
“First, the project that we have done our due diligence on and are keen to get up and running and produce from, will produce a significant cash flow for the country for 30 or 40 years if it is as big as we think it is,” he said.
The delegation has been in Zimbabwe since late last week and is understood to have visited Mpirengwa to learn about ongoing operations at Sandawana, where Kuvimba Mining House has a lithium project.
Headquartered in London, the Cluff Group of Companies is among the natural resource exploration companies in the United Kingdom. Cluff Energy, powered by the IPGL Group, prioritizes safe and sustainable operations that create a positive impact in the communities and countries in which it operates.
Since the 1970s, Cluff has managed sustainable and efficient natural resource projects in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Ghana, South Africa, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast. Announce
