RioZim Freezes Mine Sale After Court Sides With Workers’ Union

Zim Now Writer

RioZim Limited has suspended plans to sell its mines after the High Court granted interim relief to a workers’ union opposing the transaction.

In a statement on Wednesday, the miner confirmed that the Zimbabwe Diamond & Allied Minerals Workers Union lodged an urgent application on 29 July “for an interdict seeking relief that the Board be barred from proceeding with the contemplated transactions and actions contained in the cautionary statement published in the Herald Newspaper on 21 July 2025.”

The court granted the provisional order on 5 August, “pending confirmation or discharge of the provisional order. The Company intends to appeal the said order granted,” RioZim said.

According to the company, the proposed transactions were intended “to bring much-needed funding into the operations of the Company to assist with payment of employee salaries and creditors and to resuscitate mining operations.”

 It added that the deal was expected “to restart mining operations and alleviate the current hardships being faced by the workers, as well as elevate the current operations to a new level.”

RioZim said it had “taken a decision to put on hold all transactions contemplated in the cautionary statement until the outcome of the appeal.”

The company’s difficulties deepened last year when gold output fell 54%, even as peer producers expanded operations to benefit from record-high gold prices.