Manhize production to start next month
BUSINESS REPORTER
Next month is anticipated to mark the start of production at the Dinson Iron and Steel Company (DISCO) plant in Manhize, Mvuma, Business Times can report.
By October of this year, Disco, a subsidiary of Tsingshan Holdings, the massive Chinese iron and steel company, hopes to make three different types of iron and steel products.
Tsingshan Holdings is building a US$1.5 billion steel and iron factory in Manhize, which is about 200 km south of Harare.
With predictions showing Zimbabwe’s potential to become a future steel and iron industry powerhouse, this development places the nation among the world’s centres of steel manufacturing.
The development was disclosed by Disco’s projects manager, Wilfred Motsi.
“Phase one of the production is expected to start in February and everything is going on well ahead of the commencement of production,” he said.
Information at hand shows that the company expects to produce pig iron in February, followed by steel billets in May and steel bars in October.
The company is projecting to produce 600 000 metric tonnes of products in the first phase rising to 1,2 million tonnes in the second phase then 3,2 million tonnes in the third phase and ultimately five million tonnes per year in the final phase.
Other products that the company will eventually produce include pipes, bolts and nuts, smaller slags, rolled tubes, fences, shafts, wires and bars among others.
Net revenues are expected to be US$10m during the first phase and will rise to US$4,25bn under phase four of production.
In terms of employment, Disco expects to directly employ 3 000 workers in the first phase with the figure expected to rise to 25 000 in the fourth phase of production.
Recently, Dinson Holdings chairman, Mr Chen Shansong was in the country to monitor progress ahead of the plant’s commissioning and also signed a tariff agreement with ZESA Holdings that will see the power utility supplying subsidised electricity in return for the construction of three renewable energy plants by the iron and steel company.
The company is constructing a 100 MW solar plant at its ferrochrome smelting plant in Selous, another 100MW at Manhize powered by wind energy and a 70MW to be produced from heat generated at the iron and steel plant.
Further, developments around the steel plant will see the establishment of a new mineral value-addition industrial park and a town.
A railway line linking Manhize and Mutare up to Beira in Mozambique will also be constructed for easier transportation of bulk goods.
Other logistical issues have been completed or are work in progress to enable smooth operations once production starts.
These include the new Forbes-Machipanda One Stop Border Post to cater for Disco’s exports that has been approved by both Zimbabwe’s and Mozambique’s governments and will also be operational next year.
A revamped railway line in Mozambique from Beira-Machipanda was commissioned in November at a ceremony attended by President Mnangagwa and his Mozambican counterpart, Felipe Nyusi.
