A local firm Intrachem Pvt Ltd in Kwekwe is reportedly constructing a multi-million dollar mining consumables plant, The Herald reports.
The matter came to light after Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando toured the factory on Sunday with fellow Minister Larry Mavhima and said:
. . .what is absolutely critical is to get as many inputs to be made locally as opposed to exports and one of the major inputs in the mining industry are explosives,” said Minister Chitando.
At the moment we are importing all ourexplosives and what we have here is a setup which has got the ability to supply explosives to the entire US$12 billion mining industry by 2023.
Government is very happy with this progress and would like to see other imports into the mining industry being made locally
According to Intrachem MD Mr Langton Nyandoro, the first phase of the factory will be complete by September 2020:
The first phase is the bulk of the project and this is what you are seeing and on completion has the capacity to cater for all the explosives the country is importing.
In terms of saving on import substitution the US$20 million (annually) the minister is talking about is real. But going forward it certainly will be more.
More: The Herald