By Kelvin Jakachira in Harare
Mutapa Gold Resources (MGR), a subsidiary of Zimbabwe’s sovereign wealth fund, Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF), has declared a US$35 million dividend to shareholders after recording an after tax profit of US$70 million for the nine months ended December 31, 2025.
After tax profit is final net profit a business earns after deducting all operating expenses, interest, and corporate taxes from its total revenue.
It indicates a company’s overall financial health and determines the amount of money available for shareholder dividends or reinvestment.
Presenting the company’s financials in Harare on Thursday 11 June, MGR chief executive officer Patrick Maseva‑Shayawabaya said the profit was driven by favourable international gold prices.
The mining group, whose core assets were formerly held by Kuvimba Mining House before its acquisition by MIF, underwent a restructuring exercise earlier this year.
In early 2024, MIF bought out private shareholders for US$1.6 billion to secure 100% state control over Kuvimba whose assets are now grouped into five units; gold, base metals, energy, platinum, and frontier minerals.
MIF is led by former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya who is driving the restructuring and revival agenda. MIF published its inaugural audited financial statements, covering the 15-month period from September 19, 2023, to December 31, 2024, which were subsequently followed by reports for the year ending December 31, 2025.
It also produced audited accounts for more companies under it for the year ending March 31, 2026, while many more will do so in September.
The fund manages 66 state-owned enterprises worth US$16 billion. Maseva-Shayawabaya took over from MGR’s inaugural chief executive Trevor Barnard in April. Driven by high global gold prices, MGR’s annual revenues surged from US$138 million in March 2024 to US$415 million by March. Maseva‑Shayawabaya said for the 12 months to March 2026, MGR produced 3 266 kilogrammes, describing it as an impressive performance, although it is lower than what was produced the previous year.
During the previous year, MGR produced 3 600kgs. Maseva‑Shayawabaya said MGR faced problems of low grades at its two operations, Freda and Shamba. MGR owns Freda, Shamva, Jena, and Evington. He said although they eventually identified what the problem was, they could not recover the lost production. So 3 255kgs was produced over that 12-month period, split into nine months to December and three months to March.
In ounce systems, that was just 104 626 ounces. Maseva‑Shayawabaya said the average grade was 1.37 for the 12 months. The average grade was 1.37 for the year and recovery was good at about 83%. “We target to get closer to 90% with all the investments that the company is making in efficient improvements and processes in its two plans at Freda and Jena.”
During the 12 months to March, MGR drilled 46 000 meters as part of its exploration programme. He said exploration is a key driver for the company because its two mines, Freda and Jena. Freda has got a life of four years, while Jena six years, adding only Shamba is above the company’s internal threshold of 10 years with about 14 or 15 years.
He said the focus of their exploration programme is to make sure that all their operating units have a life of mine of at least 10 years.
“That’s the target that we want to achieve through this exploration programme. So that programme continues at this and we are hoping that by the end of this calendar year, we will have done another 81 000 meters. In terms of financial performance, while we did produce kilogrammes and ounces, our financial performance was greatly assisted by a gold market that was bullish or has been bullish for the past two or so years,” Maseva‑Shayawabaya said.
