Kavango commissioning Zimbabwe gold plant: flowsheet and recovery notes for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Kavango Resources has begun commissioning a 50‑tonne‑per‑day proof‑of‑concept gold processing plant at its Hillside project in Zimbabwe, with material already running through crushing, milling, gravity concentration and carbon‑in‑leach (CIL) circuits since 1 July. Between 18 and 28 July the plant averaged 69% capacity utilisation, with testwork confirming successful gold adsorption in the CIL circuit and expected commercial recoveries of 90–93%. An on-site laboratory with bottle roll, fire assay and atomic absorption spectrometer capability will support flowsheet optimisation ahead of scaling beyond the current 33,900 oz at 2.68 g/t JORC resource at Bill’s Luck Underground.
Technical Brief
- Commissioning uses both stockpiled and freshly milled gold-bearing sands from Hillside operations as feed.
- Live processing commenced on 1 July, marking transition from construction to operational testing at Hillside.
- Average plant utilisation of 69% was recorded over the 18–28 July commissioning window.
- On-site lab supports plant optimisation, mine control and exploration through bottle roll, fire assay and AAS.
- Bill’s Luck Underground hosts 33,900 oz JORC resource at 2.68 g/t Au, underpinning feed planning.
- Metallurgical testwork indicates operating recoveries of 90–93% once commercial conditions are established.
- Kavango’s stated priority is methodical, safety-led commissioning before ramp-up and wider Hillside production growth.
- Proof-of-concept configuration is intended to de-risk a larger commercial expansion of the Hillside processing capacity.
Our Take
A 50 t/d plant with 90–93% expected gold recoveries at Hillside positions Kavango Resources towards a small, high-margin underground operation model that has been common in Zimbabwe for fast-tracking cash flow while larger-scale options are evaluated.
The reported 2.68 g/t gold grade at Bill’s Luck Underground deposit sits in the mid-range of grades seen in our recent Africa gold coverage, suggesting that project economics will lean heavily on maintaining high plant utilisation above the 69% early-commissioning level.
With both gold and a ‘red metal’ reference in the asset list (including Yerington in Nevada), Kavango is aligning with a pattern in our database where juniors pair African gold cash-flow assets with copper exposure to diversify funding options and hedge commodity cycles.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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