Taurai Mangudhla recently in Kwekwe
One of Zimbabwe’s largest investors, the Moti Group plans to invest over $35 million in a joint pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution deal with a reputable pharmaceutical company as part of the group’s diversification efforts.
Moti Group chairman Zunaid Moti yesterday told Business Times in an interview the pharmaceutical deal will eventually see generic drugs being manufactured locally, effectively reducing the country’s drug import bill and cutting the cost of health care.
So far, Moti has invested $500 million in Zimbabwe.
The company targets to have completed the deal and commence manufacturing by August 2019.
“The generic product will give most Zimbabweans opportunities to access medicine at a far cheaper price. This will enable government assisted medical aid to utilise these,” he said.
“You can’t have medicine for little children costing $50 to $60 when a man is earning $300. We want them to spend maybe $5 and they get the same result,” Moti said, adding the deal aims to eventually export drugs into the region.
“The drug company we have partnered with have the know how. We always try to match the right technology and skill. They are one of the biggest in India. We need to find ourselves manufacturing sufficient generics to supply our neighbours,” he said.
Apart from the pharmaceutical deal, Moti Group will also be diversifying into gold, lithium and diamonds with investments of up to $50 million, according to Moti Group national project liaison Ashruf Kaka.
Currently, the group is mining chrome fines under its African Chrome Fields (ACF) with partners Sakunda Holdings. They recently launched Motivational Mining which is aimed at capacitating and supporting small-scale chrome miners to the tune $10 million.
Moti said his group’s diversification strategy will be executed with caution focusing on key competencies.
On the diamond venture, Moti said, his group will focus on value addition to maximise the benefits Zimbabwe gets from its diamonds while creating jobs to the highly skilled Zimbabwean workforce.
“There is a good opportunity for us to do that. We have to remain focused on what we are doing. A lot of businessmen diversify too quickly and then find themselves being jack of all trades and masters of none. We are focusing on what we have on the ground, perfect it.
“There is a big possibility to go into polishing of diamonds so that we are in a position to transfer skills. We want to transfer skills for local people to polish diamonds. It’s crazy that we have got such vast resources of diamond but we are not beneficiating and selling for next to nothing. We don’t need to take this to Belgium or Israel, we have intelligent people, the most intelligent people on the continent are Zimbabweans,” Moti said.
The diamond venture is expected to have taken off 2020 or 2021.
Moti said his lithium ventures will have taken off by end of 2019.
“I have acquired lithium reserves in the country some 15 000 hectares and I am growing those,” he said.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday officially launched ACF’s aluminothermic plant which is expected to create new jobs and producing from 300 tonnes of ULCHGFeCr per month and ramping up to 600 tonnes at full production
Speaking at the launch, President Mnangagwa said the development comes against a backdrop of successes in the mining sector since he came into office November 2017.
He said his administration is committed to ensuring a level playing field, with transparency and accountability.
President Mnagagwa instructed Mines Minister Winston Chitando to allocate ACF more chrome claims based on submissions that the company’s claims have a seven-year lifespan. However, Kaka had indicated the claims have a lifespan of 25 years.
“We will not shy away from doing what is good for the benefit of our people across the country,” he said.
“The value addition of our chrome will see increased foreign currency earnings,” he said, and urged other investors to seize opportunities.
“My Government will continue to ease and reduce the cost of Zimbabwe and provide a suitable legal framework,” he added.
He said, local companies must strive to compete with their regional and global counterparts on technology.
Going forward, President Mnangagwa said, beneficiation of all minerals is essential. He said Zimbabwe, accounting for 12 percent of the word’s chrome deposits, is set to be a significant contributor to the global chrome market.
The new plant is set to further increase the company’s range of products through the addition of Ultra Low Carbon High Grade Ferrochrome (ULCHGFeCr).
The group said the aluminothermic plant creates certain by-products that have economic value themselves and will be sold as a secondary income from the plant.
“The launch of this plant brings with it the creation of 50 new jobs, bringing the total number of employees at ACF to over approximately 1,250, further increasing employment in the region,” the company said.
President Mnangagwa said investment commitments made since he came into office in 2017 have exceeded $15 billion compared to a peak of $500 million a year ago.
Per capita income was $700 in November 2017 and has grown to $1000 by end of May and is expected to reach $3500 by 2030.
He also attributed successes to a democratic process ushered in by the new dispensation.
” We are in the process of a harmonised elections and the entire nation will be voting. as a result of democratic space, we have created for the first time in Zimbabwe we have 133 political parties and 55 are contesting and out of the 55, 23 have fielded for the office of President.”
One of the more important reasons for beneficiation of chromite by way of the aluminothermic plant is due to the lack of electricity at ACF’s remote location. The process used by the aluminothermic plant requires no electricity and allows ACF the opportunity to increase the economic value of the chromite it mines by way of beneficiation. Beneficiation of raw material is in line with the ZimAsset programme endorsed by the Zimbabwean Government.
Kaka said: “the Aluminothermic Beneficiation Plant is a very exciting step both for our flagship operation, and for the development of Zimbabwe’s ferrochrome industry.
“Zimbabwe currently sits on over 12 percent of global chrome reserves and we want to help the country fulfil its true potential as a major global player in the production and beneficiation of this vital stainless steel ingredient.”
Kaka said about 70 percent of Zimbabwe’s chrome is fines.
The plant took just over 10 months to complete.
Minister Chitando said the chrome industry had been affected by capacity largely due to viability challenges given volatility of prices. He said there has been underutilisation of existing furnaces, at slightly above 50 percent.
The extent of the mineral across the Great Dyke and extraction, he said, shows underutilisation.
