Mine sets up $20m processing plant

Fungai Lupande Mash Central Bureau
A private company, Labenmon Mine, has set up a $20 million nickel processing plant in Mazowe to value add and beneficiate the base metal. Last week, the company’s human resources manager, Mr Daniel Mlalazi, said the plant, expected to employ 100 people, had the capacity to smelt 150 tonnes of ore per day.

The company sources the mineral from its mine in Guruve.
“The company was established in 2006 and our specialty is gold and nickel mining,” said Mr Mlalazi. “Initially, we wanted to mine nickel and export the ore, but with the Government initiative of value addition and beneficiation, we decided that we cannot export the ore without first adding value to it.

“We started mining gold in 2009. We will be moving about 300 tonnes of ore from Guruve per day to keep us with enough ore. When we start production, we don’t expect the plant to stop because if it stops, there are a lot of complications in restarting.

“We smelt the stone and take it to its original state. We then process the liquid ore and separate nickel. Our finished product is nickel and a little bit of chrome and we will export them as cubes. Our target market is China; it is the biggest buyer of steel at the moment.”

Nickel is a key ingredient in the production of stainless steel.
Mashonaland Central provincial administrator Mr Cosmas Chiringa said the investment bodes well for the province.
“This is a wonderful job, especially now that our President is frantically working towards rebuilding our economy,” he said. “He was in China last week boosting the investment drive and building our image. Agriculture and mining are critical areas here and we have big and small-scale mines.

“We are pleased that the ore is coming from Guruve and people are getting employed there. There are plans to resuscitate Ziscosteel and it means Mashonaland Central is contributing. We will become a major contributor to the (country’s) gross domestic product.”

Director in the office of the Minister of State for Mashonaland Central Provincial Affairs Mr Admore Shereni said there was bound to be downstream benefits from the new nickel plant.