Zimasco Completes Mberengwa Furnaces Feasibility Study

Zimasco, a local ferrochrome producer owned by China’s Sinosteel, has completed a feasibility study for the construction of the Mberengwa furnaces. The company also envisions opening its new mines in the same district, according to a business representative.

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This follows after company’s announcement of a US$35 million investment in new furnaces at its Kwekwe smelting facility, as part of a goal to expand output by 40% by the end of next year.

Zimasco had previously created a joint venture with Afrochine, another Chinese mining behemoth, for the Neta project.

However, after Afrochine, a subsidiary of Tsingshan Holding Group, backed out of plans to build an iron ore mine and a carbon steel plant in Zimbabwe, the company will now go it alone.

Tsingshan signed a US$1 billion framework agreement with Zimbabwe in June 2018 to build a two-million-tonne-per-year steel production. The company has been exploring and seeking new mineral concessions.

Ms Clara Sadomba, a Zimasco official, stated that the Neta project feasibility study on the construction of four 16,5 MVA furnaces had been completed.

The Mberengwa furnaces will have the capacity to produce 160 000 tonnes per annum of ferrochrome.

Together with Afrochine, Zimasco is Zimbabwe’s major producer of ferrochrome, which is required in the production of stainless steel, and it controls vast expanses of undeveloped territory. The new Kwekwe furnaces will have a capacity of 72 000 tonnes per year, increasing Zimasco’s ferrochrome production from 180 000 to 252 000 tonnes.

As part of the project, a 300,000-tonne-per-year sinter plant will be developed. Zimasco will be able to exploit its friable ore resource at the sinter plant, something it has previously been unable to accomplish owing to obsolete technology at existing chrome smelters.

According to the Zimbabwean Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, Zimbabwe has the world’s second-largest deposits of high-grade chromium ore, behind South Africa, with resources reaching about 10 billion tonnes, or around 12% of the global total.

Last month, the country banned raw chrome exports in order to increase beneficiation. It has also allocated vast swathes of land to investors who wish to beneficiate chrome ore in order to fulfil the country’s aim of US$12 billion in industrial income by 2023.