African chrome fields to commission $15m plant

African chrome fields to commission $15m plant
Published: 05 September 2017
AFRICAN Chrome Fields (ACF) is set to commission a $15 million state-of-the-art aluminothermic plant to process chrome fines into ferrochrome by February next year, a company official said yesterday.

The plant alone will cost at least $15 million, adding to the $220 million already sunk into the project, ACF national projects liaison officer Mr Ashruf Kaka said.

"The plant has capacity to process 60 000 tonnes of Chromite per month" Mr Kaka said this in the Midlands during a tour of the company's plant by Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa and parliament representatives from portfolio committees on finance and mining.

"The plant will operate at 70 percent at inception and full capacity in three months," added Mr Kaka. Mr Kaka said his company has six mining processing plants for chrome fines around a 40km radius.

Feed into the plants is collected from a 2,5 km radius from each plant with a life span of 4 years. The company's claims are expected to last for 10 years. However, ACF is acquiring more claims. Minister Chinamasa pledged Government support to new investors seeking to value add products for the export market.

Minister Chinamasa yesterday told the ACF directors that Government is prioritising production and exports in order to grow foreign currency receipts, critical for the economy to be sustainable. "What we are hungry for are export receipts. I want foreign currency like no man's business," Minister Chinamasa said at the AFC operations in Midlands.

"Some of the challenges we are facing are a result of shortage of the greenback and the Euro. We need foreign currency to support essentials," Minister Chinamasa said.
- online
Tags: Chrome,

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