Zimbabwe's BMC Engineering Group of companies’ subsidiary, Stoat Mining, has commissioned the first phase of a US$150 million coking facility that will produce 400 000 tonnes of coking coal per annum. Coking coal is used mainly in the production of steel and other industrial applications.
The coking facility is being developed under a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (Boot) agreement between Taiyuan Sanxing Coal Gasification Company, Hwange Colliery Company Limited and Stoat Mining.
Taiyuan Sanxing Coal Gasification Company’s principal activities in China are the production and sale of coke, washed fine coal, raw coal, coal chemical products and coal gas.
The Boot project vehicle known as Hwange Coal Gasification Company (HCGC) is set to complete the construction of the coking facility within the next 18 months whereafter it will operate the state-of-the-art coke battery to HCCL.
BMC Engineering chairman Dr Cephas Msipa Jnr said the HCGC project represents one of the most successful examples of private sector-based co-operation between China and Zimbabwe.
Taiyuan Sanxing Coal Gasification Company is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, while HCCL is listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, JSE Securities Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
Dr Msipa Jnr said in addition to the US$200 million that the coke battery will generate in exports annually there are two other major developments that may see the group achieve additional coal exports exceeding US$250 million per annum.
“Firstly, we had to set up a hydraulic brick-processing facility that will reduce the quantity of refactory bricks and materials that we will need to import from China in the second phase of construction.
“Secondly, we acquired Chibondo Mine quarry, about seven kilometres north of Hwange town, and in the process of extracting aggregate materials for construction, we have discovered a substantial thermal coal deposit.
“Given our current mining and crushing capacity, we are in a position to immediately mine and export over 250 000 tonnes of coal per month,” explained Dr Msipa.
HCCL managing director Mr Fred Moyo said: “We have a 25 percent equity in the coke oven venture. We are therefore in a position to influence company policy (Hwange Coal Gasification Company) at board level. Furthermore, we have to pay for our equity in kind through coking coal and we are therefore able to absorb the investment comfortably in our budgeted cash flow.”
Meanwhile, BMC Engineering Group has also unveiled a six-metre container that is set to revolutionise the bulk shipping and transport industry in the Sadc region.
The bulk container, designed by Dr Cephas Msipa Jnr, is made from locally manufactured steel and polypipylene material.
The development of the container has been motivated by the development of the new coking facility.
“After overcoming the construction challenges, HCGC found itself faced with the logistic nightmare of loading and transporting almost a thousand tonnes of material a day. Our railway system is in a parlous state after almost a decade of economic sanctions.
“Coke exports to the north are now achieved largely by road and the one tonne bags that are currently in use are manually loaded and cumbersome to handle. We therefore decided to design and construct a container from locally available materials. BMC Engineering initiative has been enthusiastically supported by the offices of Local Government, Urban and Rural Development Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo and Vice-President Joyce Mujuru. Both view the container as an opportunity to introduce much-needed employment opportunities and cash to rural areas via village-based industrial centres that can manufacture the containers,” explained Dr Msipa Jnr.
BMC is now working in consultation with various stakeholders on a strategy to achieve the production of up to 500 000 containers per annum.
“In 1962 Zimbabwe exported 1,5 million tonnes of minerals using the existing rail network and coal-fired steam locomotives. We should be able to achieve those levels within a couple of years using the bulktainer and modern diesel-electric locomotives to export minerals such as coal, ferrochrome and iron ore valued at over US$1,5 billion per annum.”
Mining experts note that there are huge coal reserves in Zimbabwe containing both energy coal and coking coal that are not being fully exploited.
There are important coal reserves in Zimbabwe estimated at 30 billion tonnes, of which 1,3 billion tonnes are recoverable, by surface mining.
Source: Sunday Mail, Zimbabwe
1 comment:
good news indeed
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