KMH breathes life into ZimAlloys
MOREBLESSING MARANGE
Zimbabwe Alloys Limited (ZimAlloys), has brought to life its smelting plant in Gweru 11 years after operations stopped.
The return to life of ZimAlloys was made possible thanks to investment Kuvimba Mining House (KMH) in 2019 and has injected nearly US$7m into the business.
KMH is under the Mutapa Investment Fund and is the country’s largest mining conglomerate.
ZimAlloys managing director Deric Dube, who is Kuvimba Mining House head of the bulk minerals cluster, said the company is now up and reasserting itself as a leading alloy producer in the country.
He said the Midlands based firm is targeting 120 000 tonnes of high-carbon ferrochrome annually.
Speaking to journalists during a tour of the facility, Dube said : “ZimAlloys has restarted smelting after almost 11 years of nothing.” “The smelters at Zimbabwe Alloys closed in 2013 and 11 years later, we have restarted the first one, and we’re not stopping there. The plan is to set up a completely greenfield furnace in the next 12 to 18 months, subject obviously to the conditions of manufacture, construction, commissioning of that furnace.”
“We are excited to be back and be part of the smelting industry in Zimbabwe and to be a participant and a strong voice in that particular space,” Dube added.
He said around US$7 million has so far been spent and was spread between recapitalisation, restarting old furnaces and equipment acquisition.
“Basically, we’ve been able to paint our own picture and grow our business without the burden or the holdback of having to pay back debts.
“So, that is one thing that we give thanks to our parent company or to our main shareholder with regards to actually giving a particular finance team an ability to start its growth from a very clean position,” Dube said.
The company currently employs 350 people, a huge growth from the 100 it employed in 2019.
