Manhize a complete mining value chain project, Chitando
The Minister of Mines and Mining Development Hon Winston Chitando has labelled the Dinson Iron and Steel project in Manhize as a complete mining and comprehensive value addition project which is in line with the US$12 billion mining industry.
Rudairo Mapuranga
Speaking at the handover ceremony of a mining lease to Dinson Iron Steel Company at Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) on last week Chitando said the project is almost a whole mining ecosystem on its own.
“The Dinson project is really a typical example of a mining and a comprehensive value addition project which is almost an ecosystem on its own. If you look at the minerals involved, the value chain from coal up to coke, the value chain of iron ore, limestone, and ferrochrome it is really a typical example of a Consolidated value addition program which is in line with our US$12 billion target,” Hon Chitando said.
The Dinson Iron and Steel Company (DISCO) Steel Plant is one of the Tsingshan Group of China’s mining projects in Zimbabwe. Tsingshan Group is one of Zimbabwe’s most prominent mining investors with various other projects such as Afrochine Smelting (Pvt) Ltd in Selous, Mashonaland West which is into chrome smelting and Dinson Colliery (Pvt) Ltd in Hwange, Matabeleland which is into coke production. All these projects are interlinked as both ferrochrome and coke are required in steel production.
The coming of Disco has been dubbed as an accomplishment of another milestone towards the successful development of the mining sector and the national economy at large. According to the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Hon Winston Chitando, “This is another step forward as we work towards the achievement of a USD12 billion mining industry by 2023 and ultimately feed into the national vision of Zimbabwe becoming an Upper-Middle Income Economy by the year 2030.”
About Dinson Iron and Steel project
The investment span of the project is from exploration to mining, beneficiation, and value addition. Therefore, covering the entire iron and steel value chain which will result in the creation of jobs, infrastructure development of participating provinces, generation of foreign currency and eventually contributing to the economy of Zimbabwe.
DISCO (Pvt) Ltd was granted a Mining Special Grant Certificate (SG7126) in March 2021 which gave them the permission to explore and mine iron ore along the Mwanesi Range.
DISCO Pvt Ltd Company is going to invest a total of US$ 1 billion for the whole project. This amount will be invested for a period of 5 to 7 years. However, this amount can be doubled depending on other emerging business opportunities. On the other hand, DISCO is going to attract other supporting partners within the zone which will see an escalation of the envisaged investment.
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).
The Basic Oxygen Furnace will be utilized for high tonnage production of carbon steel while the Electric Arch Furnace will be targeted for low tonnage speciality steel. In the Basic Oxygen Furnace process, coke-making and iron-making will precede steelmaking as the main feedstock for the furnaces.