Manhize steel project excites mining sector
THE establishment of a US$1 billion iron ore mining and value-addition industrial park in Manhize, Midlands province, would impact positively on the country’s extractive sector and assist Zimbabwe to wean itself from reliance on imports, Chamber of Mines in Zimbabwe chief executive officer, Isaac kwesu, has said.
President Mnangagwa led the official ground breaking ceremony for the project on Thursday.
Its implementation is already in full swing and the signature investment is expected to create up to 10 000 jobs directly.
Chinese global investment firm, Tsingshan Group is spearheading the project through its subsidiary, Dinson Iron and Steel Company (Disco), which is expected to start producing carbon steel and related products, with projected output of 600 000 tons per year, starting October next year.
President Mnangagwa, who was accompanied by Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga and Cabinet ministers had firsthand appreciation of the scope of the project when he was taken through a tour of the massive integrated industrial park, which is at 25 percent completion level.
Kwesu, who was part of the delegates, said the investment project would have a huge impact on the mining sector, which will broaden its output, enhance import substitution and exports, thereby helping to achieve the Government’s US$12 milestone by 2023.
“This is a very important development and initiative for the mining industry in Zimbabwe at large. The project will have huge impact to social and economic development. It will create employment and have spillover effects to the upliftment of standards of living for the surrounding communities,” he said in an interview.
“To them mining sector it will have a huge effect to the contribution by the sector in terms of contribution to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product). In terms of exports earnings, it’s going to be one of the major contributions of the mining industry to foreign exchange.”
The Chamber of Mines executive said the integrated nature of the new iron and steel project entails higher value chain linkages for upstream and downstream industries.
For instance, he said the iron and steel plant involves mining of iron ore and working closely with other mining sectors such as ferrochrome production and coke processing.
“You can see in terms of what is required of the projects. Ferrochrome and growth of the ferrochrome sector is critical and reduced logistical and transportation costs. Ferrochrome will be transported and fed into steel and the iron mining itself and all mineral related elements to creation of stainless steel will all have something to do,” said Kwesu.
Responding to concerns that the mining sector was one of the top importers annually, including steel related raw materials, the Chamber of Mines boss said the new Manhize steel industrial park, will have huge import substitution benefits.
“It will reduce quite a sizeable number of our imports as we have a lot of locally manufactured products being consumed into this project. But also, as I have said that key to beneficiation and value addition, this project is more into value addition,” he said.-ebusinessweekly
