South African company building new smelter in Zimbabwe

Foundry and engineering company Thos Begbie is working in the Great Dyke of Zimbabwe, close to the town of Shurungwi, where it is helping to construct the Unki platinum smelter, adjacent to a mining operation owned by platinum mining company Anglo American Platinum (Amplats). Thos Begbie was awarded the contract for the new smelter last year by Amplats, owing to a government regulation set out in 2015, which replaces the Mines and Minerals Act of 1963, restricting the exportation of raw minerals from Zimbabwe. The new regulation – the Mines and Minerals Development Bill – was approved in 2016 by then President Robert Mugabe, who was replaced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in November 2017.