CHROMIUM alloy producer Zimbabwe Alloys Limited (ZimAlloys) is in discussions with an unnamed Dutch-based renewable energy firm to install a 180 megawatt (MW) wind energy farm to support its operations.
The Midlands-based company, one of the subsidiaries of Kuvimba Mining House (KMH), is repositioning itself as a leading alloy producer in Zimbabwe after its first smelting plant was switched on last month having been dormant since 2013.
KMH, which took over ZimAlloys in 2019 after the company had been under corporate rescue for about eight years, has set aside US$45 million for various capital expenditure programmes at the company.
So far, nearly US$7 million has been injected into various capital expenditure projects including the smelter restart initiative at ZimAlloys. The firm was placed under corporate rescue due to a combination of factors, among them a significant dip in the price of high-carbon ferrochrome on the international market. At that time, the furnaces were due for realignment and the company did not have funding to undertake the project.
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In an interview during a recent media tour of the entity in Gweru, ZimAlloys managing director Mr Deric Dube disclosed that his organisation turned to the wind energy project as part of its commitment to embracing green energy initiatives and improving power supply at its operations and furnaces whose installed demand ranges between 96MW and 103MW.
Construction of the planned wind energy plant is expected to be done in phases beginning next year and taking between 30 and 36 months to complete.
“We are also investigating into a wind energy project; it’s quite a big project that we are in discussions with a Dutch-based entity.
“They have put up wind turbines and various wind projects in Kenya and have engaged us here. We are very interested in putting something up. We have signed some agreements with them. Currently they have done all the studies and 85 percent of that wind farm will lie on our claims.
“That particular system is around 180MW total generating capacity at full installation but it will obviously take some time to get to that number,” he said.
The proposed power project is expected to address electricity supply challenges at ZimAlloys, a situation many other businesses in the country are experiencing due to depressed domestic generation capacity.
Against this background, several companies in Zimbabwe have taken the initiative to set up renewable energy plants that include solar power to support their operations and reduce pressure on the national grid while also feeding excess electricity into the national grid.
“We hope that once that project gets going, it will also add to the grid, not just (supply) to us as ZimAlloys, but to also the wider Kuvimba family of companies that we also have an ecosystem and network around,” said Mr Dube.
From the first smelting furnace, ZimAlloys targets to produce about 6 000 tonnes annually of high-carbon ferrochrome generating revenue amounting to US$6 million per annum. The firm is targeting 120 000 tonnes of high-carbon ferro-chrome annually.
High-carbon ferrochrome is a ferroalloy used in the production of stainless steel and other chromium-containing alloys.
Between 2009 and 2012, ZimAlloys used to export around 120 000 of ferrochrome annually, generating at least US$100 million.
The company’s exports were destined for countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, and the United States and other countries in Europe like Germany and France.
So far, the alloy producer has six other furnaces that are defunct and plans are in the pipeline to gradually resuscitate them.
Under Phase 2, ZimAlloys plans to establish another furnace in the next 12 to 18 months producing 24 000 tonnes of high-carbon ferrochrome per annum. Currently, the company employs 350 people from about 100 in 2019 and the number is anticipated to continue on a positive trajectory. At its peak in the late 1990s to early 2 000s, ZimAlloys employed around 3 500 people.
Following a new lease of life brought by KMH, ZimAlloys has also managed to restart three chrome concentrator plants and this has almost doubled production from what it was in the corresponding period last year.
“Our functional operations at the moment,is about 8 000 tonnes of chrome concentrates on a monthly basis — we are in the process of growing that number. This is all in aid of trying to revive the business and strengthen it to the place where it needs to be and beyond what it used to be,” added Mr Dube.
ZimAlloys’ subsidiaries include ZimAlloys Chrome, which operates chrome mining claims along the Great Dyke region as well as ZimAlloys Mines and JM Alloys that are currently dormant, and plans are in the pipeline to revive the entities.
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