Chinese billionaire eyes Zisco partnership

A DELEGATION from the Chinese steel manufacturing giant, Delong Steel, was in the country this week scouting for investment opportunities with the possibility of the company entering into a partnership with one of Zimbabwe’s largest mining companies, Kuvimba Mining House (Kuvimba) for the revival of the defunct Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (Ziscosteel).

The delegation, headed by the firm’s founder and billionaire Ding Liguo, is scouting for opportunities in the mining sector. The delegation is looking for a possibility of setting up a steel manufacturing plant in the country.

Delong Steel representative Lv Yuhang told NewsDay Business that the company’s technical team would be in the country soon for further consultations.

“We are aware of the country’s mineral potential and we have been meeting a number of authorities with the aim to look at mineral resources like iron ore and we are also looking at courting the new owners of Ziscosteel for a possible partnership,” Yuhang said.

“Our impression of the Zimbabwean environment has been positive and we will be looking at sending a technical team soon. The interest to invest is there and we will be looking at a number of opportunities.”

Kuvimba recently clinched a multi-million-dollar investment deal with government for the resuscitation of the moribund Ziscosteel.

Earlier this month, President Emmerson Mnangagwa led a ground-breaking ceremony at Dinson Iron and Steel plant in Manhize, Midlands province — another Chinese project.

The US$1 billion project run by a Chinese company, Tsingshan, is expected to create 10 000 jobs with projected production of two million tonnes a year.

In 2019, the government set a revenue target of US$12 billion for the mining sector by 2023. The mining sector export earnings for 2021 reached US$5,2 billion.

The sector accounts for about 12% of the country’s gross domestic product.-newsday