Steelmakers embarks on expansion drive

REDCLIFF-BASED steel manufacturer, Steelmakers, has embarked on a three-year expansion programme that will see it setting up a coal mining plant in Chiredzi.

The move has been made possible by a special grant that the company received from Government to undertake coal mining activities in the Lowveld.

Coal is a major raw material in the steel manufacturing process.

In an interview, Steelmakers secretary in charge of finance Mr Lewis Karowangoma said the move is set to see the company doubling its production.

“We received a special grant from Government, which allows us to extract coal at our plant in Chiredzi,” he said. “We had applied for the grant a long time ago, but we appreciate Government’s effort for finally granting us.”

Mr Karowangoma said the company will also resuscitate its iron ore crushing plant in Masvingo, which combines iron ore and coal into sponge iron.

Sponge iron will then be transported to Redcliff for the steel manufacturing process.

“Our Masvingo plant will do the crushing process, reducing the iron ore into workable sizes combining the two major raw materials into sponge iron,” he said.

“This means that the whole process of steel making becomes easy because we will be having all our raw materials at our disposal.”

Mr Karowangoma said the expansion drive was expected to boost production by more than 50 percent.

“Currently we are producing at 50 percent, and with the looming constant supply of raw materials we are expecting to be getting from the deal, we expect to double production levels and even treble in the long run,” he said.

The move will also see the company raising the much needed foreign currency through the exportation of the bulk of the sponge iron.

“We only use 20 percent of the iron in the process and we export more than 80 percent, which is another plus because we will earn foreign currency,” he said.

The deal, he said, will see Steelmakers being able to manufacture 40 000 tonnes of steel per year.

He urged Government to ban the import of scrap metal, which the company is currently relying on for the steel manufacturing process.