The Sunday Mail
The Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), currently taking administrative care of Shabanie and Mashaba Mines (SMM), is optimistic that normal service can resume if adequate funding for recapitalisation and working capital is raised.
The ZMDC, which is the Government mining arm, said the non-availability of funds was the only critical issue hampering resuscitation of the two mines.
ZMDC acting general manager Mr Wilson Chinzou said SMM had asbestos ore reserves sufficient for many more years of mining.
He also said the dump reclamation exercise has proved that fibre in the dumps was as good as that in the ore reserves, which effectively doubled the exploitable base.
Dispelling rumours that the two mines were as good as dead and buried, Mr Chinzou said it was technically feasible to recapitalise the two mines in stages. He said the amounts required would depend on the scope of work on the various stages.
“Once production reaches critical mass, which is about 30 tonnes per day, the mines themselves can further finance recapitalisation and development, from the reserves it would be generating,” he said.
Mr Chinzou said ZMDC would continue providing financial support and was currently funding the on-going care maintenance at the two mines.
He said reconstruction of the two mines was in the pipeline and as a statement of intent, both had already forwarded the issue to other stakeholders involved.
On the issue of the ballooning debt, he said the company had no significant debtors in terms of the chrysotile business operation. On the payment mechanism to creditors, he said they (creditors) were well informed about the obtaining administrative status of the company.
Mr Chinzou said all creditors, including former and current workers, would be treated the same in as far as the payment of their dues was concerned.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Mines and Energy last year, Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa said resuscitation of asbestos mines was critical for national economic development.
Thus, he said, one of his major priorities was to get SMM back in the groove.
SMM was once one of Africa’s largest asbestos producers with access to markets in Southern Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria and China.
