ZimAlloys to get $20m

Munyaradzi Musiiwa Midlands Correspondent
GWERU-based giant ferrochrome producer, Zimbabwe Alloys, which is under judicial management by Grant Thornton International, is expected to receive the first batch of the $100 million under a deal it sealed with Indian Investor, Balasore Alloys Group.

In an interview, ZimAlloys judicial manager Mr Reggie Saruchera said under the first phase of the revitalisation of ZimAlloys, the investor would inject $ 20 million.

Mr Saruchera said the remaining amount will then come in phases at two months intervals.
“We will have something definitive by Tuesday as to how much has been disbursed by the investor. We are expecting $20 million under the first phase of the project. The remaining amount will also come in batches,” he said.

Mr Saruchera said the company, which will also start producing low- carbon ferrochrome and high- carbon ferrochrome, has started refurbishing its blast furnaces.

ZimAlloys would also start producing low-carbon ferrochrome that is produced from chrome fines.
Chrome fines constitute more than 70 percent of the country’s chrome deposits.
Low-carbon ferrochrome is a ferro-alloy used to regulate the ratio of chromium in steel production without carbon and other unwanted ingredients.

Due to high quality it is a reliable and economical alternative instead of metallic chromium in uperalloy production.
ZimAlloys is expected to produce over 338 000 tonnes of ferrochrome annually.

“We have already started refurbishing our blast furnaces using our own resources. We are hoping that with more money coming from the investor we will start producing soon,” said Mr Saruchera.

The former Anglo American Plc ferrochrome producer which stopped operations in 2008 was placed under provisional judicial management on July 24, 2014.

The company was then put under final judicial management in November the same year after the ferrochrome producer’s debt had risen to alarming levels.
ZimAlloys has 39,175 hectares.

Together with Zimasco they jointly controlled about 80 percent of Zimbabwe’s chrome ore claims, mostly found along the Great Dyke.

The revival of ZimAlloys has rekindled hope for the sleepy City of Gweru.