Mining equipment manufacturers to tap into Govt $50m loan facility

Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Business Reporter
MANUFACTURERS of mining and mineral processing equipment have expressed their readiness to tap into the Government’s $50 million loan fund to capacitate small-scale miners to enhance their production.

A number of engineering companies involved in the manufacturing of mining equipment interviewed by Sunday Business said they had the capacity to produce the requisite machinery for the re-tooling of small-scale miners.

In April, the Government launched a $50 mil­lion loan fund sourced from Sakunda Energy to be used to ca­pac­i­tate the small-scale gold min­ing sec­tor and re­vive the man­u­fac­tur­ing in­dus­try especially in Bulawayo instead of sourcing mining equipment abroad.

Speaking at the launch Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Mike Bimha said the fund was in sync with efforts to har­ness link­ages be­tween eco­nomic sec­tors along the value chain. He said the fund­ing would go a long way in re­vi­tal­is­ing the city’s man­u­fac­tur­ing sec­tor, which has for a long time suf­fered losses to im­ported ma­chin­ery.

Small Scale Supplies technical manager Mr Tension Hlatini said the company had the required expertise and experience to supply equipment to small-scale miners in the country. The company is based in Bulawayo.

The company is already supplying small-scale miners with mining plants which entail mining, processing and recovery units valued at $200 000 payable over a period of three years at zero deposit and also offers start-up capital. Small Scale Supplies has already installed one such mining plant for a miner in Hope Fountain.

“We had many inquiries at the ZITF (Zimbabwe International Trade Fair) where we interviewed miners from all over the country and we will soon be going to Mutare for more interviews to select those that meet the criteria of our programme,” said Mr Hlatini.

He said as part of becoming a one-stop shop for small-scale mining equipment the Bulawayo-based company was looking forward to acquiring another factory. As part of its efforts to get a chunk from the Government’s $50 million fund Small Scale Mining Supplies has already written a letter to the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development seeking $15 million, which it intends to use in the setting-up of three more branches and manufacturing of mining units to cater for all the eight mining district in the country.

“We as local manufacturers, suppliers and installers of mining equipment for the small-scale mining sector do hereby apply for $15 million. The purpose of the loan will be to enable us to install 65 complete plants throughout the eight mining districts of Zimbabwe. We would envisage establishing four distribution centres at Bulawayo, Harare, Kwekwe and Mutare, each installing between two and four units per month per centre.

“It is our proposal that $13 million be deposited with Fidelity Printers and Refineries (FPR). As we install each plant we will invoice FPR for the cost of that plant. FPR have an established facility for loans to miners. The balance of $2 million will be utilised in the installation and equipping three other branches in Harare, Kwekwe and Mutare,” read part of the letter addressed to Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa.

Hoist manufacturer, Filberg Enterprises managing director Mr Patrick Masunda said the company through its Chinese partner Luoyang Qingfeng Pro-environment Equipment Machinery had the capacity to meet the demand for their machines.

“We manufacture our machines from China because it’s cheaper than producing here. We took our designs to China and our partner produces for us and ships the kits to Zimbabwe where we assembly it. It’s also very expensive to set up such a factory here but one of the agreements with our partner is to eventually have one depending on the demand.

“We are more than ready to supply small-scale miners with the machines because the factory in China has the capacity to produce 3 000 units a month and we have even come up with hoists which are solar-powered to ensure there isn’t disruption in the event of power outages,” said Mr Masunda.

Midlands Metal Engineering operations director Tendai Karimazondo said the company had the capacity to deliver the mining equipment it manufactures if given an order.

“We haven’t been informed about the fund and criteria. We have the capacity to produce 200 to 300 hammer mills, jaw crushers, elusion plants a month meaning we can equip at least 300 miners a month. We are however, concerned about the transparency of the initiative because the dissemination of the information seems to be very poor. We expect officials from Government to be visiting the plants to ascertain their capacity,” said Mr Karimazondo.

He said there was need for Government to expedite the formalisation of small-scale and artisanal miners to ensure that they contribute to the turnaround of the country’s economy.

“If we are to equip artisanal and small-scale miners we should make sure organisation is proper at the top and stop casting them by saying they are of no fixed abode yet we haven’t taken steps to formalise them,” said Mr Karimazondo.

Players in the mining sector have the $50 million fund which will not only go a long way in improving gold production but also play a big part in enhancing the viability of the country’s engineering firms.

@DNsingo