Afrochine completes coke oven battery construction
Chinese firm, Afrochine Dinson Colliery, has completed phase one of the construction of its coke oven battery in Hwange.
At a post Cabinet briefing Information Publicity and Broadcasting Services minister, Monica Mutsvangwa said: “…the construction of the foundation for the targeted coke oven battery at the Afrochine Dinson Colliery Plant in Hwange is complete.”
Business Times can report that works on the US$30m Afrochine Dinson Colliery plant started two years ago.
But, progress at the plant, which is set to become the biggest and most advanced coke oven in Zimbabwe, was stalled by the outbreak of Covid-19.
Afrochine is a subsidiary of Chinese steel producer, Tsingshan Group.
With the first phase already completed, Mutsvangwa said the second phase of the construction was progressing well.
Upon completion of the second phase, the company is targeting to produce about 400tonnes of coke per day and also 500 000t per year.
In April this year, Afrochine’s parent company Tsingshan, completed the construction of two furnaces in Selous.
The company is also planning to commence construction of a third coke battery and a power station in the Hwange area.
Tsingshan who has been operating in Zimbabwe for 10 years is a top player ranked number 329 on the Global 500 Fortune companies’ index, and number 84 in the top 500 Chinese enterprises, and number 14 in Chinese private enterprises 500.
Tsingshan’s project is expected to transform Zimbabwe and potentially the rest of Africa given its huge economic multipliers on rail and road, logistics, power generation, and transmission.
In 2019, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, launched the US$12bn mining strategy and as the sector is expected to contribute about $20bn by 2023.