By Melisa Munzvandi
RioZim is reducing its asset base and increasingly relying on external financing at a time when Zimbabwe’s gold industry is enjoying record export earnings.
According to Equity Axis analysis of RioZim’s official shareholder updates and financial reports, Zimbabwe delivered 31.17 tonnes of gold during the first eight months of 2026.
The deliveries generated US$4.064 billion in exports.
RioZim, however, produced just 213 kilogrammes in the first half of the year.
The evidence of the pinch is contained in two official company releases.
According to the RioZim Shareholder Circular on Renco Mine Disposal released in September 2026, the company is seeking shareholder approval to sell Renco Gold Mine as a going concern.
The circular says the mine will be sold to an unrelated third party for a minimum of US$35 million.
The mine requires US$20 million in capital expenditure to modernize infrastructure.
The company says it cannot fund this internally due to severe debt.
An Extraordinary General Meeting to vote on the sale is scheduled for October 20, 2026.
More details are available via The Financial Gazette and Mining Zimbabwe.
According to the RioZim HY2026 Interim Financial Statement published in October 2026 for the half year ended June 30, 2026, the group reported a statutory net profit of ZiG1.30 billion.
The profit was heavily driven by one off asset sales and loan write offs rather than core gold mining operations.
The document underscores operational cash consumption of ZiG669.4 million.
New borrowing provided ZiG687.2 million in the same period to keep operations running.
Contractor financing is already supporting operations at Renco and Cam and Motor.
Some future mine revenues have been committed towards repaying the funding.
The boom is passing RioZim by as peers invest heavily in expansion.
Caledonia produced about 999 kilogrammes at Blanket Mine during the same period.
The company has a revised US$103.3 million capital programme covering Blanket, Bilboes and exploration.
Equity Axis says RioZim’s challenge is now to rebuild its ability to generate enough cash internally.
The company needs to finance exploration and mine development rather than continuing to depend on contractors, creditors and asset sales.