Hwange Colliery Company Limited (HCCL) says commissioning of the $31,2 million mining equipment was on course and the company was fixing oil leaks on two machines.
BUSINESS REPORTER
In June HCCL commissioned the equipment that was acquired from BELAZ and BEML under vendor-financed facilities. PTA funded the $18,2m purchase of equipment from BELAZ. India Exim Bank financed the purchase of equipment from BEML.
However, some of the machines developed oil leaks.
In an update yesterday, HCCL said all of the 17 machines acquired from BELAZ of Belarus had been successfully commissioned and deployed adding that they were performing to expectations.
“Eleven of the 17 machines acquired from BEML of India have been successfully commissioned and deployed. The company will continue to monitor their performance.
“The remaining six machines experienced hydraulic oil leaks which is not unusual in the commissioning of such mining equipment,” it said.
HCCL said after reporting the problem to the supplier, a highly-specialised team was dispatched to Zimbabwe to investigate and supervise the fixing of the oil leaks.
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“As such, four of the machines are now working as expected and repairs of the remaining two are expected to be completed this week. Thereafter the machines will be deployed and run into operations,” HCCL said.
It said the problem of hydraulic leaks had been “speedily addressed by the supplier since the equipment is under warranty”.
“Going forward, technical support for the BEML machines will be provided by a local BEML accredited agent,” it said.
The $31,2 million recapitalisation will result in HCCL’s output rising to 500 000 tonnes per month.
Currently, its total output —which is made up of open cast mining, contractor in the form of Mota Engil and underground mining — is at 350 000 tonnes per month.
