MINES and Mining Development Minister, Winston Chitando, will officially open this year’s Mining, Engineering and Transport (Mine-Entra) expo to be held in Bulawayo next week.

The 24th edition of the expo will be held under the theme, “Accelerating Zimbabwe’s Mining Future to 2030”, and has attracted companies in the mining, engineering and transport sectors from South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, China, South Korea and Zimbabwe.

The annual event that is organised by the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) Company will be held from July 17 to 19 at the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre.

In an interview yesterday, ZITF Company acting general manager, Mr Nicholas Ndebele, confirmed that Minister Chitando will officially open this year’s expo on Thursday.

“This year we have six participating countries including Zimbabwe compared to five last year,” said Mr Ndebele.

He said the expo has maintained strong demand for space which demonstrates resilience of the mining value chain.

“Exhibitor numbers are impressive and we are excited about the prospects for this year’s expo. We already have 203 direct exhibitors and we expect the figure to go up as the momentum was temporarily disrupted by the changes on the monetary front a week ago,” said Mr Ndebele.

Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, is one of the key speakers at this year’s event and is expected to discuss how the mining industry can leverage on economic transformation to achieve a $12 billion mining economy by 2023.

Government has set a target of US$12 billion mining sector contribution to the economy by 2023.
An inter-ministerial roundtable discussion on creating an enabling environment for mining sector growth with 2030 vision in mind would also be convened during the expo.

Professor Ncube and his counterparts, Ministers Chitando, Mangaliso Ndlovu (Industry and Commerce), Joe Biggie Matiza (Transport and Infrastructural

Development) and Advocate Fortune Chasi (Energy and Power Development), would also be part of the inter-ministerial roundtable discussion panelists.

Joint suppliers and producers co-chair, Mr Sifelani Jabangwe, is expected to present a paper titled, “Enabling mineral resource-led economic growth: Supply side opportunities and challenges”.
A consulting geologist Mr Nevison Chikandiwa will present a paper titled, “Zimbabwe’s mining potential: Towards better geological knowledge”.

Mine Entra is a trade showcase that seeks to unlock the potential, opportunities and growth prospects throughout the mining value chain and its related industry such as engineering and transport sectors_The Chronicle