| Namibia to import 10 000 tonnes of coal from Zimbabwe - report |
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| Written by Staff Reporters | |
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Zimbabwe’s cash strapped coal producer, Hwange Colliery Company (HCC), has clinched yet another deal to export 10 000 tonnes of coal to Namibia, Mining Weekly reported this week.
The deal comes within one week after the conclusion of another export agreement in which HCC will supply 300 000 tonnes of coal to the Chilanga Cement Company of Zambia over a period of 24 months.
HCC spokesperson Burzil Dube told Mining Weekly that a Namibian company
wants a variety of coal known as nut pea duff. He said the parties have
agreed on all terms, but the exports would only resume after the
Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) clears the deal.
“We have agreed on everything and I can safely say we will soon be exporting to Namibia. We are only awaiting approval of the export agreement by the MMCZ. But I am sure the exports will resume in July,” Dube said. However, company insiders have warned that the coal producer will not be able to meet its export customers’ demand in the light of constant machinery breakdowns, particularly the main components of the dragline, which has been down for the last three months. While admitting that the breakdown of machinery posed a threat to the two export deals, Dube said that he believed the company would do its best to meet the demand. “The breakdown of machinery does threaten our export deals but we are expecting the main dragline to be back in working in order within three months. We have already lost an export deal under which we would have supplied a Botswana company with 15 000 tonnes of coal peas per month because of the breakdown of the dragline,” Dube said. HCC, which was last year rocked by a scandal in which cabinet ministers and other national figures in the business and political worlds were buying coal cheaply and exporting it to neighbouring countries at exorbitant prices, has been searching for new ways to increase its foreign currency earnings and revive the faltering operations. HCC currently exports at least 3 500 tonnes of other coal grades to the mines and salt industries in Botswana. |
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