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Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy chairperson Edward Chindori-Chininga told members of the Chrome Miners Association that lack of vision was also preventing the sector from attracting investors to set up smelting furnaces.
“You do not have a plan, that is why the ban was effected in the first place,” he said.
The Government last year banned the export of chrome ore in a move that was intended to build capacity for internal refinery.
Chrome Miners’ Association chairperson Mr Thomas Gono said the miners were maintaining their push for the Government to lift the ban on exports of chrome ore with a pledge to invest in smelting furnaces in the long run.
“Our plan with regards to lumpy chrome is that the Government should allow us to export until such a time the country had adequate smelting capacity,” he said.
Mr Chindori-Chininga, however, did not have kind words for the association, which he insisted was disorganised.
“You seem to be pushing for exports but with no substantive plan for the future. You have no future.
Banks will not support you because you do not have a plan,” he said.
There are three large-scale ferrochrome miners in Zimbabwe, including Zimbabwe Alloys and Zimasco, which is owned by Sino Steel of China. Zimbabwe has three smelters that have the capacity to smelt 1,5 million tonnes of chrome a year. — New Ziana.
Online Reporter