Story by Mhlomuli Ncube
VICE President General (Rtd) Dr Constantino Chiwenga has challenged mining companies to ensure the beneficiation of all minerals being extracted in the country.
He said this when he was assessing progress on the implementation of the value addition strategy at Kamativi Mining Company (KMC), which is one of the key development milestones by the Second Republic.
After years of semi-disolation, the Matabeleland North province-based mine, commissioned by President Emmerson Mnangagwa last year, is producing 2.3 million tonnes of raw ore and 300 000 tonnes of lithium concentrate per annum.
“We want now to get to that stage where we will say, this is the water from Zimbabwe, drilled from Zimbabwe, bottled in Zimbabwe, and drank in Zimbabwe. So this precious mineral that we are taking must be processed and bring something that we can say is made in Zimbabwe, from the lithium from Kamativi. That is what we would want,” he said.
The Vice President also emphasised a win-win business approach where both investors and Zimbabweans benefit.
“Zimbabwe must be the first. It cannot come second. With the God-given resources, we must be the first, so let us further develop and build. That is what the government led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa wants to see when we say we are growing the economy, we are building our country, with the resources.”
Since its revival, Kamativi Mining Company, a joint venture between the Chinese Yahua Group (via Sichuan PD Technology Group) and a local partner, Defold Mine (Private) Limited, has breathed a new economic lifeline in Hwange, creating around 1 400 direct and indirect jobs.
