The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo Senior Business Reporter
HWANGE Colliery Company will do a cost analysis on whether to carry out a major upgrade on one of its key mining equipment, the dragline, or replace it completely as part of additional re-capitalisation efforts following implementation of the first phase which has seen delivery of equipment procured under two vendor financed deals worth $31 million.
The coal miner’s managing director Mr Thomas Makore said the decision on the dragline would also depend on whether the Government would award the company additional mining concessions.
HCCL has for the past decade called on Government to grant it new concessions in light of its depleting reserves especially for opencast activities.
“When we secure new mining concessions that extend the life of our mine to more than 20 years, we plan to either do a major upgrade of our dragline or replace it. We have not estimated this cost. However, we will do a cost benefit analysis,” Mr Makore said.
HCCL started using the dragline in early 1983.
The machine was purchased from Bucyrus Erie of America, shipped to Zimbabwe as components and assembled on site.
The dragline is used for stripping overburden only and must not dig into coal as it would be thrown out to waste. The dragline working bench depth ranges from 30 to 40 metres but works at maximum efficiency when the bench is within a depth of 26 metres.
Excess burden is removed by other means such as trucks and excavators, an operation known as supplementary stripping.
Due to age, however, the machine performance has been gradually decreasing. Production has decreased from a monthly exposure rate of 400 000 tonnes of coal by 50 percent.
In the meantime, said Mr Makore, the company would continue to use the dragline at its JKL opencast pit where the reserves have a remaining life of barely three years.
“Even though it is obsolete, with the right back-up spares, we can still remove overburden and mine about 250 000 tonnes at the dragline pit.”
The company has also started receiving equipment under its two vendor financed deals, which will see the coal mining giant acquiring equipment from BEML worth $13,3 million funded by India Exim Bank while the other batch of equipment worth about $18,2 million is expected from a Belarus firm, Belaz, under the PTA Bank loan facility.
He said the first batch of equipment from Belaz arrived two weeks ago, while the remaining consignment was likely to arrive this week.
“We are taking delivery of the Belaz equipment from Belarus. The first consignment arrived at the mine on 16 March. The complete consignment will be delivered on 53 truckloads.
“So far about 25 truckloads have been delivered and offloaded. We anticipate that all the deliveries will be at the mine by Sunday (today),” he said.
The equipment from Belaz consists of 10×130 tonnes dump trucks, five-six cubic metre front-end loaders and two wheel dozers.
The mining equipment from the Indian firm BEML consists of excavators, front-end loaders, bulldozers, motor grader, water bowsers, tyre handler, wheel dozer and drill rigs.
“This equipment will leave India this week (last week) and is expected to arrive at Durban port by the third week of April. By end of April, it should be at the mine,” Mr Makore said.
The new equipment is part of the company’s turnaround plan, which consists of initiatives to increase production and convert debt to equity through a rights issue.
It also includes augmenting the company’s own production with that of its contract miner, Mota Engil among other various initiatives aimed at improving efficiencies, competitiveness and production.
Coal Producers and Processors Association of Zimbabwe president Dr Cephas Mandlenkosi Msipa said the turn of events at Hwange was exciting and a positive development towards turning around the country’s economy.
“We are very impressed and delighted about what’s happening at HCCL. There is no doubt that the mine plays a key role in the continuous survival of the town and the communities around it because it offers vital infrastructure and other amenities.
“Its recovery is very important to the country’s economy and we are glad that they have managed to procure equipment and source funding as well of which all will go a long way in turning around the fortunes of the company,” he said.
