Zimpapers Logo

Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
MINING and industrial conveyor belt supplier, Rema Tip Top Zimbabwe, plans to set up a $10 million conveyor belt manufacturing plant, a move expected to create thousands of jobs in the downstream industry.

Rema Tip Top is a Zimbabwe registered company established out of a strategic partnership between Rema Tip Top International, which is headquartered in Germany and the indigenous owned Trends Holdings.

In an interview at the ongoing Mine Entra exhibition yesterday, Rema Tip Top Zimbabwe director Mr Tich Mujuru said they were looking at establishing their factory either in Bulawayo or Norton.

“We’ve been supporting mining for a long time until recently we decided to bring Rema Tip Top into Zimbabwe and firstly for its expertise in conveyor belting and accessories and also for capital injection into the local industry.

“We’re looking at manufacturing conveyor belts in Zimbabwe. At the moment we’re still using Rema Tip Top factory in Benoni and Howick in South Africa but we’re working towards establishing a fully-fledged manufacturing plant in Zimbabwe,” he said.

“Our estimates are about $10 million for that plant and on our part that’s the initial phase of the factory but as development goes on obviously we need to expand the size of the factory and reach out to more customers outside Zimbabwe.”

Mr Mujuru said the site of such a plant would be either Bulawayo or Norton, adding that they are still doing feasibility studies for the project.

At the moment, Rema Tip Top has mobile teams that work on servicing mines across the country.

Rema Tip Top Zimbabwe offers products that include adhesive systems such as rubber lining for corrosion protection, conveying, wear protection such as ceramic lining material, special rubber products and rubber lining materials.

Conveyor belt maintenance such as splicing and repair product, cold splicing and repair, hot splicing and splicing kits are some of the services offered by the firm.

“We’ve the industrial division, which takes care of the mines in terms of conveyor belts, cleaning equipment for conveyor belts, which are scrappers and rubber lining installations for mills on the mines. We also have the automotive division, which takes care of tyre maintenance for the mines and the generality of the automotive industry,” Mr Mujuru said.

He said with time, the size of the plant would be expanded to reach for more customers outside Zimbabwe to the north, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Zimbabwe.

Their customers, Mr Mujuru said, include those in the mining and chemical industries as well as recycling industrial sector.

He said after completion of their factory, between 100 and 150 people would be employed at the plant while thousands of people would also benefit in the downstream industry.

Commenting on the significance of exhibiting at Mine Entra, Mr Mujuru said: “We need people to know that we exist and we need our essential and major customers to know that we offer a wide range of products.

“Sometimes when we go into a meeting at a mine, we focus on one product whereas we supply a wide range of products which we’re displaying here today. The same customer might not even know that I’m doing horses as we’ll be concentrating on one product,” he said.