By Savious Madanhire
The Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Midlands Province, Honourable Owen Ncube commended ZimAlloys Private Limited for its remarkable resurgence, citing it as a shining example of the Second Republic’s economic vision.
During a tour of ZimAlloy’s facilities on 16 October 2024, Minister Ncube praised the management for steering the company through difficult times, retaining employees and also investing USD 7 million to boost its operations.
“Allow me to commend the hard work and resilience of ZIMALLOYS management for steering the company through difficult times, managing to retain a workforce of around 300 employees while concurrently building reserves for the resuscitation of smelting operations. We applaud the New Dispensation for creating a conducive investment climate that has enabled ZIMALLOYS to restart operations after almost 11 years under care and maintenance.”
“In this regard, USD 7 million has been invested to date in smelting operations, mining, four chrome washing plants in Mutorashanga and Lalapanzi, as well as in the yellow fleet of equipment, to boost company operations,” he said.
However, despite economic odds, Minister Ncube attributed ZimAlloys’ success to the Second Republic’s efforts to modernize and industrialize the economy, under the leadership of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
“Despite the negative effects of illegal economic sanctions imposed on our country by the West and depressed ferrochrome prices on the international market, the company has recently resumed chrome smelting operations, following the strategic decision by the Second Republic, under the visionary leadership of His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Cde Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa, to modernize and industrialize the economy in pursuit of an upper-middle-income society earlier than 2030.”
“Consequently, the current production capacity for both the M1 furnace and the metal recovery plant hovers around 4,000 metric tons per annum hence ZimAlloys has plans to invest in a 13.5 MVA semi-closed furnace with a production capacity of 24,000 metric tons per annum by 2025 and an additional 31 MVA furnace by 2026, thereby increasing production capacity to 48,000 metric tons,” said the minister.
Minister Ncube acknowledged that ZimAlloys has demonstrated its commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility through job training programs for students and community empowerment initiatives.
“I commend ZimAlloys for its Corporate Social Responsibility, which includes on-the-job training of 20 students at any given time in all disciplines. In addition, the company is also actively involved in community empowerment for women and youth groups in Lalapanzi through Tribute Mining.”
Furthermore, Minister Ncube stated that the Midlands Province has benefited significantly from the Second Republic’s policies, achieving 10.9% GDP growth in 2022, driven by mining, agriculture, construction, manufacturing and tourism.
“The Midlands Province is a beneficiary of these progressive policies, exhibited through realizing the highest GDP growth of 10.9 percent in 2022, anchored by mining, agriculture, construction, manufacturing, and tourism.The mining sector had the highest contribution of 27.3 percent, underpinned by more than 12 different high-value minerals embedded along the Great Dyke. These include gold, platinum, chrome, diamonds, iron, and coal. Recently, there was a discovery of lithium in Mberengwa and huge deposits of coal bed methane.”
All mining companies have been urged to practice responsible mining and safeguard the environment for future generations.
Additionally, Minister Ncube clarified that “it is important to note that these positive developments are coming at a time when the Second Republic has put in place transformative policies to improve the ease of doing business as we gravitate towards the attainment of a prosperous and empowered upper-middle-income society earlier than 2030.
Through the call to action, “No Compromise to Service Delivery” blueprint, Local Authorities have been tasked to improve water supply, road and sewer infrastructure, and speed up the processing of licenses to attract and accelerate investments in areas under their jurisdiction.”
In conclusion, Minister Ncube’s tour at ZimAlloys has been an eye-opener that showcases the Second Republic’s huge strides in delivering tangible signature programs and projects hence making Zimbabwe indeed open for business and Vision 2030 realistic and achievable.