Dorowa Mine capacity utilisation jumps 55pc

DOROWA Mine has increased its capacity utilisation by 55 percent following Government’s US$5 million injection four years ago, an official has said.

The country’s sole phosphate miner’s capacity utilisation rose from 10 percent to 65 percent, says it requires a further US$10 million to reach maximum production.

Speaking during a tour of the mine by Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu last week, Chemplex chief executive Mr Tapuwa Alvin Mashingaidze said the company was on course to reach the maximum capacity utilisation.

Chemplex Corporation is a division of the Industrial Development Corporation which owns Dorowa Mine.

“Dorowa has been running at a very low capacity up to about five years ago when we got loan support from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe,” Mr Mashingaidze.

“Our capacity utilisation has risen from about 10 percent in 2016 and before to currently about 65 percent of our recorded output.

“We are actually exporting pending further investments that we are pursuing at Zimphos, the sister company that converts the product from Dorowa here to super phosphates for fertiliser use.”

Mr Mashingaidze said they were also working on additional refurbishment to further increase capacity, which they hoped would reach 80 percent by next year.

“We also producing a coal product that comes together with the phosphate called magnetite which has found a ready market in Mozambique,” he said. “As you know that the production of fertiliser starting with the phosphates here depends very much on our ability to get foreign currency, so we are doing a lot of work to earn that forex ourselves.”

Dorowa Mine general manager Mr Charles Mangadze said 60 percent of their products were sold to Zimphos while 40 percent were exported.

Mr Mangadze said the 60 percent sent to Zimphos is used for the manufacturing of single super phosphates used for fertiliser.