(3 Minutes Read)
London-listed Kavango Resources PLC has successfully raised USD2.9 million to kickstart pilot-scale mining and processing operations at its Hillside Gold Project in Zimbabwe. The funding was secured through the issuance of over 227 million new ordinary shares, with UK-based investment firm Purebond Ltd acquiring more than 111 million of those shares.
CEO Ben Turney hailed the capital raise as a pivotal moment, marking significant progress in positioning Zimbabwe as a credible and attractive destination for mineral investment in Africa. Over the past two years, Kavango has identified four high-potential gold discoveries and now aims to commission a 250-tonne-per-day processing facility by the first half of 2026. Turney emphasized the company’s intent to demonstrate that Zimbabwe is a mining-friendly jurisdiction “open for business” on the global stage.
This fundraising milestone follows Kavango’s recent secondary listing on Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX) — a US dollar-denominated platform created to draw foreign direct investment and bolster regional capital markets. Kavango became the 17th company to list on the VFEX, debuting its shares on 8 September, just days after the formal listing on 5 September.
As part of the VFEX offering, the company issued 330.5 million new shares. These were distributed among a diverse mix of investors, including approximately 69 million shares to nine Zimbabwean pension funds, 1.8 million to local residents, 259 million to Purebond, and the remainder to Kavango employees. Analysts view this as a meaningful step toward blending local institutional participation with foreign capital inflows, potentially laying the groundwork for deeper regional capital integration across Southern Africa.
While gold continues to be Zimbabwe’s top export, the country is striving to diversify investment sources by redefining its mineral sector as both regionally integrated and globally competitive. The VFEX plays a critical role in this strategy, offering investors a hard-currency alternative to the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE), which operates primarily in the local currency.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/zimbabwe-courts-investors-with-mining-led-growth-vision/
Kavango’s Hillside initiative is expected to serve as a proof-of-concept for scaled mining operations, with implications beyond the company’s own portfolio. If successful, the project could significantly bolster Zimbabwe’s broader ambition to attract sustainable mining investment, while contributing to wider African dialogues on how resource-rich nations can balance local stakeholder involvement, regional capital mobilization, and global market engagement.
