Online Reporter
Gvt releases $5,3 million for Dorowa
Farirai Machivenyika
Senior Reporter
The Government has released US$5,3 million towards the refurbishment of the Dorowa phosphate plant as part of efforts to localise fertiliser production.
This was said by Chemplex board chairman Dr Linos Mapfumo in a meeting with members of the Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Industry and Commerce on Wednesday in its ongoing tour of fertiliser production companies in the country.
Dorowa Minerals is wholly owned by Zimbabwe Phosphates (Zimphos), a subsidiary of Chemplex.
Chemplex falls under the Industrial Development Corporation, which is under the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF)
“The refurbishment of Dorowa phosphate plant to produce the 150 000 tonnes per annum of phosphates has commenced with US$5,3 million being disbursed by the MIF for the first phase of the refurbishment to produce 150 000 tonnes per annum, which will achieve over 50 percent of the basal fertiliser required by the nation,” Dr Mapfumo said.
“A total of US$16 million is required to fully refurbish the plant to its installed capacity and enable production of over 400 000 tonnes per annum of basal fertiliser.
“The funding balance will be addressed by the shareholder MIF as a medium-term strategy for the localisation agenda.”
He added that the new production capacity will be able to meet over 50 percent of national basal fertiliser demand, with the new capacity being available for exploitation in the 2026 cropping season onwards.
“For the 2025-2026 summer cropping season, as a short-term strategy, ZimPhos has planned to produce 8 000 tonnes of basal fertiliser raw material using phosphates from Dorowa.
“This production requires US$2 million as working capital. Due to inadequate local phosphates production, Zimphos is going to produce 25 000 tonnes of basal fertiliser from imported phosphates, and this requires US$15 million,” he said.
Dr Mapfumo said for full achievement of the localisation programme, Zimphos required additional capital project funding of US$21m for complete synchronisation of the phosphates production from Dorowa to the Zimphos conversion plants.
“These are the installation of a sulphur burning sulphuric acid plant for import substitution, requiring capex of US$13million. The plant will be scoped to produce at least 75 000 tonnes per annum
“The sulphuric acid from the sulphur burner will cost around US$120 per tonne compared to US$225 per. tonne from imports. This will further reduce fertiliser prices,” he said.
He added that the installation of a second phosphate conversion plant with a capacity of 225 000 tonnes per annum and a second granulation plant with a capacity of 300 000 tonnes per annum required US$8 million.
“The grand plan is to expand the Dorowa phosphate plant into an all-in-one phosphates and fertiliser plant with a scope to produce at international capacity and exporting into SADC/COMESA and beyond, exploiting the AfCFTA advantages and foreign currency earnings,” he said.
“Pre-feasibility study has since commenced and it is being ably led by the shareholder MIF.”
In 2020, Cabinet approved the five-year Fertiliser Import Substitution Roadmap (2020-2024), and in 2023, Cabinet further approved a related paper on the Localisation of Fertiliser Production.
The decisions were made to boost local production and substitute imports, with the overarching goals of ensuring food security and creating jobs.
At least 70 percent of the basal fertiliser used locally is either imported or produced from imported phosphates.
This regardless of the abundant phosphate deposits at Dorowa and a phosphate production plant that can produce enough to meet national local demand.
This year, an Inter-Ministerial Committee was formed to pursue the localisation of fertiliser production and Zimphos has participated in the update of the localisation road map where short-, medium- and long-term strategies were developed for presentation to Cabinet.
