New Dawn sun sets on South African venture

Business
NEW Dawn Mining, the owner of Turk and Angelus, has dumped its South African venture to focus on operations in Zimbabwe.

NEW Dawn Mining, the owner of Turk and Angelus, has dumped its South African venture to focus on operations in Zimbabwe.

This is in “light of substantial opportunities now present in Zimbabwe”.In a statement on Wednesday, the company said: “New Dawn intends to focus exclusively on expanding output at its Turk and Angelus Mines in Zimbabwe, furthering exploration on its options claims in Zimbabwe, and pursuing acquisition opportunities in Zimbabwe that are value accretive. “In pursuing its Zimbabwe focused growth strategy, management has determined that its Blue Dot Mine Development Project in South Africa is no longer a part of the company’s corporate focus. “As such, New Dawn has shut down the Blue Dot Mine Development project, and has decided to place Blue Dot into provisional liquidation, a legal process under South African law that provides for an orderly sale, liquidation or winding up of the business.”A provisional liquidation would allow New Dawn to effectively manage the disposal of the asset. Turk mine has been enjoying the improved environment and has seen gold output steadily increasing since May this year.This followed the reopening of the mine in the first quarter of the year after most mines closed last year as a result of viability problems.In commenting on its South African Project, New Dawn said the Blue Dot Project had not generated any revenue from gold sales that were sold to them from the two Zimbabwean entities.“As such, New Dawn confirms that gold sales and production figures as generated from its Turk Mine in Zimbabwe will not be affected in any way as a result of the Blue Dot closure,” Ian Saunders, president and chief executive officer of New Dawn, said. “We have a producing mine in Zimbabwe in which output has increased for five consecutive months and we are well on our way to increasing output and continuing to examine other value accretive opportunities in a country where our expertise lies and significant opportunity is present in an ever-improving political and economic environment.” New Dawn is a Zimbabwe-focused junior gold company which is currently involved in gold production at its Turk and Angelus Mines. It also explores for gold, identifies and pursues other development projects, as well as actively assessing opportunities in Zimbabwe. New Dawn owns  the mines in the upper southwest area of Zimbabwe that has the potential to produce an estimated 35 000 to 50 000 ounces of gold per annum.  — Staff Writer.