Deal overview
Pamwe Royalties (Pamwe) established its maiden net-smelter royalty (NSR) on all gold revenue processed by the Hawkline gold mine (HGM) in October 2022. Pamwe will receive 15% of all gold revenue processed from the commencement date (October 2022) and for a period of five (5) years (“Initial Term”), or until a total sum of three hundred thousand United State Dollars (USD300,000). Thereafter, a 3% NSR will apply for the life of the mine (LoM).
Hawkline Gold Mine Pvt.Ltd is a small-scale gold mine, located in Insiza district, Matabeleland South province in Zimbabwe. The project is in an area where there are many small-scale Miners chasing down quartz veins of gold for subsistence survival. This project is sitting on an old mine which was previously mined in the 60s during the Rhodesian era, and Hawkline took over the operation in 2016 when the company was established. Production started on Claim Lyn 23, in 2019 and it is ongoing.
Management
The project is co-owned by Kundai Chikonzo and partners who have demonstrated their entrepreneurial abilities since 2016 and are operating the small-scale project with standards often only found in mid-tier mines. Kundai has been internationally recognised for her brilliance, including various appointment such as ZAWIMAS first chairperson.
Geology
The project is located about 60km north-east of Bulawayo, in the Archean Greenstone Belt, a geological setting in which most gold mines in Zimbabwe are found. Most Greenstone belt deposits tend to have thin zones with gold found in quartz veins with sulphide fluids, from which the gold is leached. Project geological documentation and data, such as mapping, drill core (logging), geophysics or geochemical data, is unavailable presenting high risk of investing in small-scale mines; but production data from 2019 to mid-June 2022 clearly demonstrate that gold is present and found in quartz veins.
In terms of the grades, the practice is to collect assays from the mined tonnes, the milled tonnes and then the tailings. This practice enabled the operations to show that high grades of up to 4g/tonne are present, which is a characteristic of the Greenstone belt type of deposit. Production assays from 2021 and 2022 provided a head grade ranging between 1.25g/tonne and 2.28g/tonne (Au).
As part of the investment conditions, 25% of the net-profit will be reinvested into the project to cater for mine development. This includes activities such as trenching, mapping, and drilling to better define the geology and the resource on the project; emergency on site; and cushioning production in terms of overheads etc. A geologist will also be employed on a fulltime basis to map old working and to gain historical context as well as to manage future geological programmes. Further, the safety, health and environmental condition on site will also be improved.
