Hwange Colliery Company Ltd, Zimbabwe’s oldest coal miner has extended a tender inviting investors to revive or build a new battery of coke ovens after applicants requested for more information on the scope or work.
Hwange, which is partly owned by the Government floated the tender in April this year inviting bids to either rebuild or to construct a new recovery type coke oven battery, by products plant and gas plant, which includes a coke oven gas supply line to Power Station
and financing of the project.
The company also offered maintenance of the coke oven battery for a period of 12 months.
“The tender has been extended because those who had applied wanted more information,” Hwange managing director Dr Charles Zinyemba said.
Hwange decommissioned its coke oven battery in 2014 after it become too expensive to operate. Prior to that Hwange exported coke to copper smelters in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Zimbabwe is witnessing huge investments in the coke sector as investors it seek to take advantage of surging demand in China, the world’s largest consumer of the commodity used for steel production. Last month, Afrochine Dinson launched its coke oven battery with capacity to produce 400 tonnes per day for local and regional markets.
Afrochine started building its plant in 2019 but progress was stalled by the outbreak of Covid-19 until the Government engaged its Chinese counterparts to facilitate the return of experts who had been locked in the Asian country to complete the projects.
Afrochine Dinson has already started the construction of the second phase of its project, as the company seeks to deepen the value addition drive, which feeds into Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 of an empowered and prosperous upper-middle-income economy.
Several other coke projects are in the pipeline and would help Zimbabwe achieve the US$12 billion mining economy by 2023.
Launched in October 2019, the mining road map, known as the Strategic Road to the Achievement of $12 billion by 2023 aims growth in strategic exports of minerals such as
The policy focuses on value addition, enhanced investment within the sector, increased productivity and employment creation and increased exports and foreign-currency generation.
The Government says value addition and beneficiation of agriculture and mineral commodities would be the most important part of its policy framework next year as the country seeks to grow exports from the secondary sector. Last week, the Government
banned raw chrome exports to encourage building of smelters.
Announcing the latest strategy to boost the mining sector during a post Cabinet media briefing, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Monica Mutsvangwa, said the moratorium on raw chrome ore exports would promote the local value-addition chain.