Zimbabwe has set up a $18 million facility to capacitate three Bulawayo companies to produce mining equipment, Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha said yesterday.
Bimha told journalists that the three firms must have the capacity to produce equipment for small scale mines but lack financing.
The facility will be launched during the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair which runs this week.
“The whole idea is to capacitate local producers which in turn capacitates small scale miners particularly in gold production…….Rather than importing this equipment, we rather capacitate local producers, this money is for them to re-equip and be able to produce equipment which will go into the mining industry,” said Bimha.
The facility, which is a joint venture between the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, will be expanded to other cities.
Funding for the facility will be sourced from both local and international financial institutions, he said.
Bimha said 90 percent of exhibition space had been booked, compared to 95 percent last year, with 326 exhibitors, down from 337 in 2016. However, foreign exhibitors have marginally increased from 20 last year to 21 this year.- The Source
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