ZimAlloys to ramp up hiring by up to 58 percent

By Kudzanai Gerede Companies and Markets Editor

ZIMBABWE Alloys Limited (ZimAlloys) expects to grow its head count by up to 58 percent to 550 in the next 18 months from the current 348 workers on planned expansion of business units, including the opening of a new furnace.

The Gweru-based high-carbon ferrochrome producer restarted smelting operations last month after almost 11 years of non-activity. At its peak in the 1990s ZimAlloys used to employ thousands of workers before going under administration due to legacy debts.
ZimAlloys recently got a fresh lease of life after it was acquired by Kuvimba Mining House (KMH) in 2019.
KMH ― a subsidiary of Mutapa Investment Fund ― owns 85 percent of ZimAlloys with the remaining 15 percent under a foreign entity, Core Metal which is responsible for marketing to international markets.

KMH is in the business of strategically acquiring mothballed mining operations across the country with the aim of resuscitating them to profitability riding on its expertise and financial partnerships.
Prior to its acquisition by KMH, ZimAlloys was under business rescue for eight years until 2021.
KMH has recently invested US$7 million, which includes buying equipment and restarting the old furnace. Employment numbers have also increased from about 100 in 2019.
“In terms of employment we are currently at 348,” ZimAlloys managing director, Deric Dube, told The Financial Gazette during a tour of the facility in Gweru last week.
“In terms of numbers that we have, the potential to employ changes based on the number of operating or functional business units that we have. I think from the immediate project that could take us to around 450-550 in the next 18 months…but again as you grow you find that a lot of the operations within this complex have a lot of shared services…there will certainly be growth but it all depends on the number of business units that we open within that space and certainly by the time we open our next furnace we should then be approaching the 500 mark.”
ZimAlloys intends to inject a further US$45 million which will go into expansion including setting up the furnace that is expected to ramp up production of high-carbon ferrochrome to 120 000 metric tonnes per year from 31 000 metric currently being produced.
Ferrochrome prices have been firm and were expected to remain high as the global economy continues to recover from a Covid-19-induced slump.
High-carbon ferrochrome is ferroalloy used in the production of stainless steel and other chromium-containing alloys.
“We have restarted smelting after almost 11 years. The smelters at Zimbabwe Alloys closed in 2013 and 11 years later we have restarted the first one and we are not stopping.
“Our plan is to actually set up a completely greenfield furnace in the next 12 to 18 months subject obviously to the conditions of manufacture, construction, commissioning of that furnace,” Dube said.
According to Dube, who also serves as the head of the bulk minerals cluster at Kuvimba Mining House, ZimAlloys’ net debt position has been eliminated by KMH’s investments, allowing the company’s new management to take over debt-free.
ZimAlloys has embarked on a US$3 million exploration programme that will be executed in phases as it attempts to expand its resource base.
The company went under judicial management due to a number of factors including the collapse of high-carbon ferrochrome prices and the increasing costs of production. At the time, the company did not have capital to finance the maintenance of its furnace which had become due.
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