Chronicle Editor
Uzile Mkwananzi, Sunday News Reporter
THE Nkayi Rural District Council has called on local and foreign investors in the mining and construction industry to explore and exploit kaolin — a mineral which is abundant in the district and has not been mined commercially.
The mineral is in high demand in the Asia Pacific Region and is mainly used in ceramics, medicine, coated paper among other uses.
Its global market is expected to reach US$6,1 billion by 2028. Speaking to Sunday News, the RDC’s chief executive officer Mr Silibele Mpofu said they recently discovered the abundance of kaolin mineral and want to use it to improve their streams of revenue by attracting investors.
He said Nkayi District was well known for its richness in plant diversity and has over the years benefited from the sale of timber and was working tirelessly to boost its economy and improve livelihoods of its communities.
“We have identified kaolin as the main mineral prevalent in the district and we have since started courting investors. The global demand of this mineral is high and if properly marketed it could mean a lot of business in our area. We do not have investors but we are courting some companies to venture into mining,” said Mr Mpofu.
He said they were working hard as a district and their development partners to create an environment favourable for business and investment.
“The council is responsible for creating a conducive environment for economic growth. Therefore, we have developed stands for the private sector to build their businesses. We have lodges and houses that are being constructed in the district which in turn creates employment opportunities for our people,” said Mr Mpofu.
The district has other projects that it is working on and is lobbying for the expedition of rehabilitation works on major roads such as the Nkayi-Bulawayo and Kwekwe-Nkayi-Lupane roads as well as the Ziminya Dam construction which is expected to alleviate the villagers’ situation in the drought-prone district.
The chief executive officer also said they were leaving no one behind in economic planning for the growth of the district as they were offering equal opportunities to entrepreneurs in the small and medium-scale enterprises cluster.
“We have established some vending stalls and factory shells for budding entrepreneurs to make use of. We are mindful that there are small businesspeople who we should cater for and we don’t want them to be left behind,” he said.
Mr Mpofu said the rural district council was working tirelessly to improve the district’s economic sector, maximising on local private public partnerships at large to help upgrade their area and in turn create job opportunities for the community.
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