Dinson Iron and Steel Company project reaches 70% completion

Dinson Iron and Steel Company (Disco) is confident that the US$1,5 billion steel plant being constructed in Mvuma will be completed this year as the project has reached 70 percent completion.

Upon completion, the mega project will see the country saving almost 90 percent of imports in steel products, while exporting the product, coupled with the downstream benefits along the economy's value chain.

Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando yesterday handed over the mining lease to Dinson Iron and Steel Company which is a subsidiary of Tsingshan Holdings, the world's largest stainless steel producer which is building Africa's biggest integrated steel plant whose first blast furnace is expected to be switched on at the end of September.

The ongoing project, which is expected to be among the largest in Africa, is seen as a significant step toward Zimbabwe's goal of modernisation and industrialisation.

Speaking during the handover ceremony that was held in Harare yesterday, Dinson Iron and Steel Company Managing Director, Mr Benson Xu vowed to meet the target saying the project was nearing completion with much of critical works having been completed.

"It's like we have completed about 70 percent of the total project so with this assurance from your Ministry, I can assure you that we can move much faster to complete the target we have set out.

"We have completed the foundation of the critical equipment, now we are very busy with the installation of the equipment and most of the equipment has come through already."

Although the project was disrupted by incessant rains that the country experienced early this year, Mr Xu said they were expecting more equipment to come as the company races towards the completion of the project.

"We hope that by the end of this year we could commission the blast furnaces so that's our target and like what we promised the President. We must deliver , no matter the challenges.

"We have travelled so well , I honestly feel that without your support nothing will happen , without Government commitment nothing will happen."

Further he said that he was impressed that the once bushy area had completely changed within a short space of time.

He also described the recent approval of the Manhize town plan as a game changer as industrialists, banks, and other service providers have already expressed interest in taking part in the enormous project.

"There are a lot of interests from all these sectors of the economy and we would like to involve a lot of local participants and local industries to come and work with us."

The new town, which is set to be a game changer for the country, will be established for about 30 000 residents and the site plan will be made public soon.

Since the Manhize is largely inaccessible in terms of transferring goods, he said the focus was on making it easier to facilitate.

"So we are working with local authorities like NRZ and other stakeholders in terms of how we can open the logistics and move the product into the regional market and also out of Africa .

"As we speak we have another team that is working in Mozambique to sort out the issue of the port corridor.

The Mines Minister hailed Dinson Steel Company for having faith in the Government and for supporting its investment programme.

"Many companies will say they will not invest a dollar until we get our mining lease but Dinson when they got assurance from his Excellency the President that the mining lease will be coming, they didn't wait for the title deed , they actually proceeded to investing millions of us dollars without having a mining lease."

He also described the project as a typical example of a consolidated value addition project which is in line with NDS1 and which is also in line with the vision of 2030.

"The Dinson project is really a typical example of a mining and comprehensive value addition project which is almost an ecosystem on its own.

"If you look at the minerals that are involved, the value chain from coal up to coke , the value chain from limestone to ferrochrome."

Following the closure of Zimbabwe's largest steel plant, Zisco in 2008, the country is spending US$400 million annually importing iron and steel products.

Disco intends to build a 1 000 kilometre railway network to be used for ferrying bulk iron and steel products to the markets or ports.

The group's two other local subsidiaries are Dinson Colliery and Afrochine Smelting (Pvt) Limited.

In July last year, Disco announced that it had started scouting for local and export markets for its products ahead of production this year.

This dovetails with the objectives of ZimTrade to grow Zimbabwe's exports to US$7 billion this year and US$14 billion by 2030.

In Hwange, Dinson Colliery is engaged in coking coal, coal washing, coal tar recovery, coal tar processing, and other activities.

The colliery already exports high-quality coke to South Africa and Zambia