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MODERN MINING
November 2016
CONSULTANTS/
PROJECTS HOUSES
feature
In Zimbabwe PMDE is working with these small-scale miners.
are we really moving into high gear with it,”
says Duke. “PMDE is in many ways unique. It
is entirely focused on small to medium-sized
mining projects, which are too small to attract
conventional funding or, alternatively, which
have failed or are in distress for one reason or
another. Our mission with PDME is to get these
projects into profitable operation. The mecha-
nism we intend using is some type of build,
operate and transfer or BOT contract arrange-
ment, although there are other possibilities.
Obviously, on the technical aspects of projects,
we will work closely with Sound Mining and
indeed other partners, who we’ve already iden-
tified and who are prepared to be flexible and
think out of the box in terms of addressing risk.
“We’ve chosen Mauritius as a base as it
offers many advantages as a gateway into Africa
and we’re in the process of setting up a perma-
nent office there. We’re also establishing a fund
which will invest in the projects we choose to
advance. We already have a number of projects
in our portfolio that we’re looking at, mostly
in gold and copper, and we would expect to be
developing some of these in the shorter rather
than the longer term,” he concludes.