Online Reporter
George Maponga in MASVINGO
ZIMBABWE Zhongxin Chrome Smelting has invested US$30 million in an expansion project that is creating jobs and empowering communities through the local beneficiation of chrome.
Instead of exporting raw ore, the smelting plant can now process and refine chrome locally in line with President Mnangagwa’s call for beneficiation of minerals to derive maximum benefits.
Already, Mashava town and surrounding areas are experiencing an economic boom thanks to a US$30 million investment by Zimbabwe Zhongxin Smelting Company to start value-addition of chrome into ferrochrome at its plant near Mhandamabwe.
This development dovetails with the Second Republic’s rural industrialisation drive.
Zimbabwe Zhongxin Smelting Company opened a US$70 million chrome smelting plant in Mashava two years ago, throwing a lifeline to thousands of artisanal miners in the town and surrounding areas rich in huge chromium deposits.
The miners were extracting and selling raw chrome to middlemen, but the coming on board of Zimbabwe Zhongxin Smelting Company transformed their fortunes with a ready and reliable market for their product.
This stemmed unemployment in and around Mashava while also spawning socio-economic transformation in the mining town, that had slid into almost a ghost town following the closure of Mashava Asbestos Mine.
The chrome smelting plant currently has two furnaces, each with a capacity to produce 1 500 tonnes of ferrochrome monthly and employ 200 people directly.
Ferrochrome is an alloy of chrome and iron and is used in the production of stainless steel in yet another feather in the nation’s cap as a fledgling stainless steel hub in the region and the wider African continent.
Zimbabwe is home to a US$1.5 billion steel and iron plant at Manhize, which is the biggest on the continent. Chromite ores that are supplied by small-scale miners in Mashava produce between 38 to 40 percent ferrochrome.
The growth and expansion of Mashava town will also rub off on nearby Mhandamabwe Business Centre as Zimbabwe continues to experience exponential rural industrialisation powered by the value addition of natural resources.
Permanent Secretary for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Dr Addmore Pazvakavambwa yesterday stressed the importance of chrome beneficiation in driving transformative economic growth in Mashava and surrounding areas.
“There are also plans to build a bigger third 1 650-kilowatt furnace that will be producing around 3 000 tonnes of ferrochrome per month,’’ he said. “We are happy as a province that our chrome is no longer being sold and exported in raw form but is now undergoing partial beneficiation at the Zimbabwe Zhongxin Smelting Plant in Mashava, which currently has two furnaces that produce 1 500 tonnes of ferrochrome monthly, with the whole investment having cost US$70 million.’’
Dr Pazvakavambwa noted that the planned new investment to build a bigger furnace will see more chromite being value-added, creating wealth for locals and also direct employment, which dovetails with a vision to make Masvingo a US$8 billion economy by the year 2030.
“The provincial development agenda is underpinned by local endowments and mining contributes 12,5 percent to our provincial gross domestic product.
“We have some minerals in Masvingo that include chrome and Mashava (Zimbabwe) Zhongxin Chrome Smelting Plant has expanded, and this expansion is a plus for our rural industrialisation drive, it is a boon for our drive to become a US$8 billion provincial economy by the year 2030.’’
According to Dr Pazvakavambwa, the expansion of the smelting plant would mean more throughput of chromite ore supplied by small-scale miners, which was a harbinger of exciting times ahead for Masvingo economically.
“Resultantly, there will also be more people who will be employed at the chrome smelting plant and also more income going into the pockets of our people, who mine and supply chromite ore for partial beneficiation. All this means we will see mining contributing more to our provincial gross domestic product,’’ added Dr Pazvakavambwa.
Zimbabwe has huge chromite deposits, and several beneficiation plants are being set up countrywide as the country continues to stake its claim as a major stainless-steel hub in Africa.
