Kavango Resources Plc (Kavango) has secured a fresh tranche of Zimbabwean pension fund investment as the mining group pushes ahead with plans to bring its Hillside gold project in Filabusi into commercial production next year.
In a statement, the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange-listed company said it will issue 36,596,469 new ordinary shares to Comarton Consultants and six pension funds under the Comarton Managed Pension Funds Investments Consortium.
The shares, priced at £0.01 each, form the third of five planned funding tranches under an agreement signed in April last year.
Kavango said the latest transaction increases the number of consortium pension funds invested in the company to 13, with a combined holding of nearly 180 million shares once the new allotment is completed.
Application will first be made for the shares to trade on the London Stock Exchange before they are transferred to Zimbabwe for secondary listing on the VFEX, allowing direct local trading.
The investment comes as Kavango accelerates development at its 100 percent-owned Hillside gold project in Zimbabwe’s Filabusi Greenstone Belt, where the company is transitioning from exploration to mechanised mining and early-stage production.
Kavango plans to commission a 50-tonnes-per-day carbon-in-pulp plant at Hillside in the second quarter of 2026, marking its first commercial gold production step.
Executive director and chief operating officer Alex Gorman said the plant would serve as a pilot operation while laying the groundwork for larger-scale production.
“A decision was taken to install a 50t/d CIP plant at Hillside in summer 2025,” Gorman said in the company’s financial statements.
“The objective was to take a first step into commercial production and to prove processes and gold recovery.”
She said Bill’s Luck Mine would supply the initial ore feed, with shaft deepening, infrastructure upgrades and mine development already underway.
“Commissioning is expected in Q2 2026,” Gorman said, adding that scoping work is in progress to expand throughput to 250 tonnes per day, potentially producing about 8,000 ounces annually.
Chairman and interim chief executive Peter Wynter Bee said the company remains focused on scaling operations.
“At Bills Luck… Kavango is evaluating an increase in processing capacity…and is focused on the commissioning of its 50t/d pilot carbon-in-pulp gold processing plant,” he said.
Hillside hosts a JORC-compliant resource of 52,900 ounces across several prospects, including Bill’s Luck, Nightshift and Prospects 3 and 4, positioning it as one of Kavango’s flagship Zimbabwean assets.