Hwange to increase production
ZIMBABWE largest coal mine Hwange Colliery is looking to ramp up production this year as it continues its road to recovery, businessdigest has learnt.
The coal miner is emerging from the doldrums in which production had plummeted drastically which resulted in the government placing the firm under administration to facilitate recovery in 2018.
Hwange Colliery managing director Charles Zinyemba told businessdigest that the firm was aiming to increase production this year.
“For 2022, we are looking to ramp up production. We have stabilised now. We are looking to put more machinery in the underground mine because the support system of the continuous miner that was there has outlived its lifespan and we need to replace it, so we can produce a lot more,”
Zinyemba said.
“In the opencast area we want to introduce even bigger excavators so that we produce more. So basically, we are looking to increase production much more than what we were doing in 2021.”
Zinyemba said that the operations at the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE)-listed entity had stabilised and were currently producing between 240 000 and 250 000 tonnes monthly.
“This is from a situation where we were hardly producing anything at a time when reconstruction started,” he said
On debt clearance, Zinyemba said the coal miner had made significant progress on this front.
“What I can tell you is, we’re almost through clearing most of the debts,” he said. “We have cleared the debts owed to employees. We don’t have any salary backlogs. We have also cleared the debts of most of our stakeholders. So we are left with three who were fairly big but we’re almost done.”
He, however, declined to reveal how much the company owes creditors.
The Hwange Colliery managing director said despite having cleared most of its debt which had severely hampered its operations, the firm still faces challenges of foreign currency shortage and a fluctuating exchange rate.
Zinyemba said the company was overstaffed but this will be eventually offset by increased production.
“I am glad that we have not yet retrenched; we have kept our workforce intact. Yes, we do have too many people at the moment but we think that with the improved production, we are looking to retain or recruit more,” he said. “So for now, yes we are over staffed but that will be offset by increased production.”