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The lifting of the ban on chrome exports saw a “number” of chrome ore exporters engaging ZimAlloys with the view of buying the commodity

Harare Bureau
FERROCHROME smelter ZimAlloys has restarted one of its smelters while talks with potential international chrome ore off takers are being finalised, an official has said.

Judicial manager Reggie Saruchera said the refurbishment of the furnace was successfully completed and is producing an average of 300 tonnes of ferrochrome per month.

“We’ve capacity to recycle 1,000 tonnes of dump per month and this gives us 300 tonnes of ferrochrome,” said Saruchera adding the refurbishment of the bigger furnace will start next year with operations expected to resume a year later.

ZimAlloys, bought from Anglo American plc by a local consortium in 2005, was placed under final judicial management in 2013 due to poor performance attributed to the closure of its four furnaces, poor global metal prices and high operational costs.

Saruchera said the lifting of the ban on chrome exports saw a “number” of chrome ore exporters engaging the company with the view of buying the commodity.

He also said the company was negotiating with potential investors from a position of strength in light of expected revenue inflows to be generated from raw chrome and ferrochrome exports.

“We’ve about six off potential takers we’re talking with and the lifting of the ban has placed us on a better position with regards to negotiations with investors,” said Saruchera.

“We’re no longer desperate . . . and we would like to thank the government for the initiatives.”

The government lifted the ban on chrome ore exports in July this year to enhance the viability on miners and improve the liquidity into the economy.

Shipments resumed last month, for the first time since 2011 when the government imposed a ban on raw chrome exports to encourage beneficiation of the mineral.

While the government had imposed the ban on chrome ore exports to encourage firms to beneficiate the mineral, the suspension had negative impact on producers, particularly small-scale miners resulting in some of them shutting down due to viability problems.

Small-scale miners could not sell their produce due to low smelting capacity in the country, leaving them with stocks of chrome ore and no alternative source of revenue.

Apart from lifting the export ban, the government scrapped the 20 percent export tax on raw chrome to restore viability, but the royalty rate was increased from two percent to five percent.

Saruchera said ZimAlloys will start exports once it obtains a permit from the government.

Ninety five percent of the world’s chromium resources are geographically concentrated in southern Africa and Zimbabwe is estimated to host over 80 percent of the world’s resources of metallurgical quality chromite.

This year, miners are expected to mine 211,000 tonnes of chrome with output expected to rise to 461,000 tonnes next year.