By Elizabeth D.T. Taderera
Located in the Matabeleland North province in Hwange, Hwange Colliery Company Limited was founded in 1899. The registered office is located in Harare and a regional office in Bulawayo. It focuses on coal mining, processing and marketing. The stock is listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange and also on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
The type of mining that takes place here is open cast mining and underground coal mining. The coal is transported by road and rail to various areas. They have their own railway system which is the Thomson Junction. Most of the coal mined at Hwange Colliery (Bituminous Coal) supply the Hwange Thermal power supply, it is the biggest power plant in Zimbabwe. It has an installed capacity of 920MW.
Under the ownership of ZESA Holdings Pvt Ltd the thermal station was constructed in 1973 and commissioned in 1987. A conveyor belt that is about 3.5 kilometers long supplies about 1750 tons of coal per hour and 250 000 tons of coal are stockpiled on site.
Hwange town also benefited from the available jobs, and the town grew fast due to the high market of coal to fuel furnaces for factories across Zimbabwe, and some National Railways of Zimbabwe trains.
