The plant will initially produce 600,000 tonnes of steel a year at the peak of its first phase and production is expected to reach five million tonnes in the final phase of the plant expansion. It will have up to 3,000 workers during the first phase of production with the number expected to double in the second phase.
When running at full throttle, the processing plant around 200km (120 miles) south of the capital Harare is touted to become Africa’s biggest integrated steelworks. And it could not come soon enough.
The Chinese embassy hailed the start of operations at the new plant, posting on X, formerly Twitter, that “it marked a significant step for Zimbabwe’s industrialisation and modernisation”.
In future, the plant will make use of Zimbabwe’s abundant iron ore, chrome, coal, nickel and limestone to make iron and steel products that will help develop the country’s value chain. Raw materials will be mined and processed locally, government officials have said, with enough reserves to last 100 years.
Tsingshan, the world’s biggest stainless steel producer, also has other projects in Zimbabwe, including a ferrochrome smelting factory owned by subsidiary Afrochine Smelting in Selous, a village in Mashonaland West province, around 70km west of Harare.
Ferrochrome is an intermediate product used as feed material in the production of value-added materials such as stainless steel. Ferrochrome produced at Selous will be used to make steel at the Mvuma plant.
When Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa toured the construction site in March, he said there was a shift taking place as the nation moved from being an importer of steel to an exporter.
“This iron ore was always there lying idle; we did not know. We would wonder why certain rocks are heavy and we would even build our foundations for houses with iron ore. We are now using iron ore to help us build our nation.”
“Once we start production, we will be moving a lot of exports and in large quantities to different parts of the world,” the steel producer said.
“Our project will see the construction of Gweru-Mvuma rail, refurbishment of existing infrastructure (we’ll manufacture rail slippers ourselves) and a line to reach the Indian Ocean in Mozambique carrying value-added products. Regional players are excited.”
Dosman Mangisi, chief operations officer at the Zimbabwe Institute of Foundries, termed the start of operations as “a shot in the arm” for Zimbabwe’s iron and steel industry.
“It’s a dream come true to the economy of Zimbabwe,” Mangisi said.
He said it will improve the ease of doing business in the country within the metal foundries industry due to availability of raw materials. That will have the effect of boosting downstream and upstream sectors of the Zimbabwe economy.
“This is the moment the country should enhance the retooling of the strategic sector of iron and steel and foundries for metal castings, both domestic use and export,” Mangisi said.
Many existing processing, or beneficiation, plants in Zimbabwe and other African countries, were built decades ago by European investors and are now outdated.
Mangisi welcomed investments worth millions of dollars from China, saying: “ China has become an Asian ambassador in Africa. This new milestone increases confidence in African economies.
“The advent of the Chinese, who have come with efficient technologies, has brought a great change in the beneficiation of minerals in African economies.”
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