Zimbabwe’s State-owned Mutapa Platinum Group has secured $100-million to develop its Darwendale platinum project, with civil works now beginning and mine production expected to start next year.

“We reached financial closure on the project at the end of last month and secured $100-million,” Patrick Maseva-Shayawabaya, CEO of sister company Mutapa Gold, told Bloomberg News in an interview from Harare on Wednesday. “Civil works are now beginning,” he said, following a briefing on the platinum project on Monday.

The Darwendale project, located 65 kilometres west of Harare, has an estimated resource of 44-million ounces of platinum group metals. The project is one of Zimbabwe’s flagship efforts to develop its platinum resources through state participation.

Zimbabwe has the world’s third-largest platinum reserves, after South Africa and Russia. Mining in the southern African country is currently dominated by three South African companies: Impala Platinum Holdings, Sibanye-Stillwater and Valterra Platinum.

The financial close marks a significant step for Zimbabwe’s ambitions to expand its platinum sector beyond the dominance of foreign operators. The government has previously expressed interest in increasing local participation and value addition in the mining industry, which is a key source of export earnings.