The Manhize iron and steel project west of Furtherstone will generate an annual revenue of US$10 billion, it has been revealed.
Rudairo Mapuranga
Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony of the first phase of the plant, the Minister of Mines and Mining Development Hon Winston Chitando said the iron and steel project which has a life of mine of over 100 years which fetch an annual revenue of US$10 billion for the country, contributing significantly to the upper middle income economy.
“This park will process 10 million tonnes of carbon steel annually which at today’s price, we are talking of around US$10 billion per annum.
“Also we are witnessing phase 1 of the park which is producing over 600 thousand tonnes of carbon steel by the third quarter of next year and this will impact to the US$12 billion mining industry,” Hon Winston Chitando said.
As outlined in the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), some of the strategies being employed to grow the mining sector include attracting funding, enhanced exploration, opening of new mines, re-opening of closed mines, expansion of existing mines as well as improve levels of local mineral beneficiation.
This integrated Iron and Steel manufacturing plant will be designed to manufacture carbon steel by the chemical reduction of iron ore using an integrated manufacturing process. The iron from the blast furnaces is converted to steel in a Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) as well as in Electric Arch Furnaces (EAF).
Speaking at the same event, the President Mnangagwa said the the project which will employ over 10 thousand employees is important to the second Republic as its mantra is to see infrastructure development which will be aided by steel from the project.
“Steel production is quite critical in the development of any nation, particularly in infrastructure development. This project therefore dovetails well with the Second Republic’s massive infrastructure development drive as we seek to revamp and modernize our infrastructure for the benefit of our people. This project, in addition to the ZISCO Steel project which is set to be revived, will produce steel not only for the domestic market but will also service the whole Southern African region and global markets thereby generating foreign currency through exports,” President Mnangagwa said.
Dinson Iron and Steel Company (DISCO) Steel Plant is one of Tsingshan Group of China’s mining projects in Zimbabwe. Tsingshan Group is one of the second Republic’s biggest investors with various other projects such as Afrochine Smelting (Pvt) Ltd in Selous, Mashonaland West which is into chrome smelting and Dinson Colliery (Pvt) Ltd in Hwange, Matebeleland which is into coke production. All these projects are inter-linked as both the ferrochrome and coke are required in the steel production.