ZCDC takes delivery of new equipment

THE Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Mining Company has received heavy duty plant equipment procured from Belarus under a $32 million Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe financing facility granted last year.

The first batch of the equipment, which comprised seven dump trucks, arrived at Forbes Border Post in Mutare on Tuesday and was cleared by Zimbabwe Revenue Authority officials en-route to the Chiadzwa diamond fields.

ZCDC will receive a total of 21 dump trucks and five dozers, which it procured from the eastern European country. The company’s chief executive officer, Dr Morris Mpofu, said all the equipment would be in the country in three months.

“This is part of the recapitalisation process we are undertaking at ZCDC in order to increase our operations at the mines,” he said.

“We are going to receive 21 dump trucks and five dozers that were procured from Belarus using the $32 million we got from the RBZ last year.

“In the next three months, we would have taken delivery of all the equip- ment. We have since set up an assembling platform at Chiadzwa, where we are going to put the machinery components together since we are receiving them in pieces.” Dr Mpofu said by procuring the

machinery, ZCDC would sustain itself and do away with contract mining which was costly.

“When we have our own machinery, we will do everything on our own,” he said. “What it means is that we will declare more dividends to Government by minimising costs related to contract mining.

“The new mining equipment will also help us expand our operations and thereby increase production. All portals in Chiadzwa and Chimanimani will have enough equipment to operate at full capacity.

“We have started to engage the contract miners on the new developments. What is more important is that with the new equipment we will be able to do conglomerate mining which will increase our yield both qualitatively and quantitatively.

“It means that we will get more refined gems that fetch higher prices unlike the industrial diamonds which were being mined through alluvial processes.”