The Hon. Minister for Mines and Mining Development, Winston Chitando has hailed the diversified Chinese Zhongjin heli Energy (Pvt) Ltd’s Five Mile Industrial Park for its significant contribution to power generation and local coal value addition in a move that has gone beyond traditional mining and contributing the sustainable zero waste mining processes and maximum resource use in the country.
Speaking at the tour of the coal-energy generation facility, the Hon. Minister Chitando, said, “We need to look at this project in two main contexts, firstly, it’s a major project towards achieving the 2030 vision and secondly, this is a project that complies with trust for value addition and beneficiation.”
The Minister making a tour of the plant
The diversified project that is part of the Five Miles Industrial park has significant managed to produce thermal and the metallurgical coal. The thermal coal is being converted to produce electricity to a 235 Mega Watts capacity in which, 100 is already operational, said the Mines Minister.
The ash that is the waste from the coking process is used to produce a very strong type of cement so there’s no wastage, added Minister Chitando.
The Minister reveled that apart from producing 235 megawatts of electricity the company is also able to 500,000 tons of cement per annum.
The facility houses a 235 MW coal plant, already producing 100MW, fed into the local grid. The Fly ash plant is able to produce 500 000 tonnes of high strength cement per year generating between USD 90 million to USD 100 million in revenue annually.
The plant is now able to produce metallurgical coal for higher-value uses and applications, a phase value around USD 100.00 milllion as part of the whole plant investment of USD300.00 million, said Minister Chitando.
Local Steel from Manhize used at the plant
The plant is heavily consuming steal produced at Manhize another high end Chinese investment in the country.
The Zhongjin heli Energy (Pvt) Ltd’s MD, Mr. Dye, said that “ We have built this coking plant and a cement plant f=to help build the economy of Zimbabwe in the smallest way possible that we can.”
The first phase of the project will make roughly USD 500 million in revenue, a real boost for the economy and concrete moves towards the President Mnangagwa’s Vision 2030 for an Upper Middle Income Economy.
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