Zimbabwe Alloys (ZimAlloys) to restart ferrochrome production in October following a ~US$40M injection to revive the company.

The ZimAlloys ferrochrome plant is located in the town of Gweru and has battled financial struggles since 2013. Following a failed attempt from Indian company Balasore Alloys to restart the plant in 2018, the 120ktpy ZimAlloys plant has remained idle. In 2021, Kuvimba Mining House (KMH) acquired Zimalloys to bring it out of judicial management and is now ready to restart the first furnace, with plans to return the facility to capacity in 2024.

Zimbabwe hosts high-grade chromite reserves in the Great Dyke and surrounding podiform geology. In 2021, the country’s government implemented another raw material ban that came into effect in 2022, which included chromite ores. The ore ban was lifted in 2015 to support the struggling industry as a whole and feed China’s raw material hungry stainless steel industry. But now the country looks ready to reattempt support for local smelters.

Zimbabwe’s ferrochrome production has ramped up over the last two years, as costs in China surged in response to shift in energy prices, allowing the Southern African ferrochrome plants to regain some competitive opportunity. China is also investing heavily in Zimbabwe, with the stainless steel giant Tsingshan fast-tracking construction of an integrated 1.2Mtpy crude steel plant through its local subsidiaries. The plant is also expected to produce 500ktpy ferrochrome for use in stainless steel production at the plant.

According to planned expansions tracked by Project Blue, Zimbabwe’s ferrochrome production has the potential to double its output and become the fifth country to produce over 1Mtpy ferrochrome. ZimAlloys will look to piggyback on the growth in alloy output of its Chinese-owned counterparts in the country.