By Chipo Gudhe
Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has called for stronger collaboration between industry, academic institutions and Government to boost local explosives production, warning that continued reliance on imports could undermine Zimbabwe’s rapidly expanding mining sector.
Speaking after touring key chemical and manufacturing companies in Kwekwe yesterday including Intrachem, Sable Chemicals, Global Union Alloy and Zimchem, VP Chiwenga said the country must urgently scale up domestic explosives production to support the mining industry.
“We visited Intrachem, a company that is making explosives specifically for the mining industry. The mining sector is growing rapidly and to extract the minerals underground requires a lot of explosives,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s mining industry has expanded significantly in recent years as Government pushes to maximise the country’s mineral resources, which Vice President Chiwenga described as a key pillar of the economy.
“When I first visited the Midlands, I said there are three major areas that anchor our economy — mining, agriculture and tourism. Mining is a God-given resource and it is growing very fast,” he said.
However, the Vice President said local explosives production has lagged behind demand, forcing the country to rely heavily on imports.
“We have been importing these explosives because what we were producing locally was not sufficient. Even now, after seeing the facilities and hearing the briefings from management, we are still far behind where we need to be,” the Vice President said.
Despite the gap, Chiwenga expressed optimism after observing developments at Intrachem, praising the company’s technical team for efforts to expand capacity.
“I was quite amazed to see the development by the young team there,” he said.
He said the way forward lies in stronger partnerships between industry and academic institutions to drive innovation and product development.
“We have encouraged them to work hand in glove with technical institutions such as Kwekwe Polytechnic and Midlands State University in developing explosives that can address different conditions,” VP Chiwenga said.
According to the Vice President, increased collaboration between companies such as Intrachem and Sable Chemicals could significantly accelerate the growth of the explosives manufacturing sector.
“With Sable Chemicals coming on board from the end of April, we see this industry growing very fast. The two companies will work hand in glove, together with other Government departments,” he said.
He added that the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education would play a critical role in research and development aimed at strengthening local explosives manufacturing capacity.
“The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education will play a major role in the development of our explosives industry,” said VP Chiwenga.
The Vice President said the long-term goal is to eliminate imports and ensure Zimbabwe produces enough explosives to fully support its mining sector.
“Once these plans are implemented, we will stop importing explosives,” he said.
Industry analysts say boosting local explosives production could lower mining costs, improve supply reliability and strengthen value chains in Zimbabwe’s resource-driven economy.
