Freda Rebecca General Manager, Tonderayi Muganyi says annual gold output from the company’s mine will increase from its annual 60 000 ounces to 100 000 ounces in the next two years.

To achieve this, Muganyi said Freda Rebecca intends to install a third mill that would help it to produce 165 0000z (about 4 tones) in about five years’ time through a multi-pronged growth strategy.

If Freda Rebecca’s production output turns out as expected, the miner will help Zimbabwe achieve its national gold output goal of producing 17 tonnes of gold this year.

While the company gets most of its capital on global markets, including Europe, it is considering opportunities offered by third party players from areas around its mine and also building a tailing plant for the pilot treatment of gold dumps.

Muganyi said the company hopes to raise outputs having invested heavily in improving its existing capacity.

Although he did not disclose how much is needed to make this goal feasible, Muganyi told a group of European and African ambassadors visiting Zimbabwe ahead of the EU-AU Summit in Brussels this week that while about $5 -10 million is needed for such an increase, Freda would require much less because an established mine may require less in terms of capital.

Freda Rebecca Gold Mine, owned by regional commodities group Mwana Africa already accounts for about 20 percent of gold produced in Zimbabwe.