The desire to grow local equipment manufacturing highlights Mine Entra conference
The need to see local equipment and consumable manufacturing growing to satisfy the ever-rising mining industry highlighted Mine Entra’s official opening conference.
Rudairo Mapuranga
This year’s Mining Engineering and Transport Expo (Mine Entra) which ran under the theme Explore, Extract, Expand towards sustainable mining value chains was officially opened by President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa who emphasized the need for manufacturing of mining equipment and consumables.
Mnangagwa said the continued exportation of consumables and equipment should be a thing of the past.
“Riding on the increased capacity utilisation of the various mining houses, there is no excuse for the continued importation of mining consumables and related accessories such as balls mill and conveyer belts, among others. I challenge the Suppliers Committee to work closely with government and suppliers to ensure the local production of quality and competitively priced products, in line with Buy Zimbabwe, Made in Zimbabwe, Build Zimbabwe initiative,” President Mnangagwa said.
Speaking at the same conference, Chamber of Mines President Mr Collin Chibafa said the country was exporting its much-needed foreign currency due to buying equipment manufactured in other countries.
“We are exporting jobs, we are exporting the foreign currency that we don’t have and this is an attainable situation. My advice to suppliers, miners are price takers our customers determine the prices of the goods that we sell. Therefore, we cannot afford a more than 100 per cent increase of prices in USD terms that we have seen in the recent past. Let us seek to manufacture locally, let us price reasonably,” Chibafa said.
Speaking to Mining Zimbabwe on the sidelines of the event, the Minister of Mines and Mining Development Hon Winston Chitando said the conference emphasises the need to see mining equipment and consumables being sourced locally for the country to fully benefit from Mining revenue.
“The event has gone well very well, the main emphasis was to see how local suppliers can take advantage of opportunities which are in the mining industry. NDS_1 emphasises on upwards and downward integration and here particularly it’s upward integration we want to ensure that as many goods and services are sourced locally,” Chitando said.
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Mining Development chairperson Hon Edmond Mkaratigwa said the country should strive to see the manufacturing of consumables and equipment.
“I’m hoping in the near future to see an improvement ownership of manufacturing entities or at least some innovation around equipment and consumables that are necessary for the mining sector,” Hon Mkaratigwa said.