Hwange Colliery invites bids for contract mining services

Hwange Colliery Company Ltd has invited bids for the provision of contract mining services, as the company seeks to more than double its production.

Tenders are invited from suitable and interested bidders for the provision of contract mining services at the Chaba opencast mine in the Matebeleland North Province of Zimbabwe. Prospective bidders should have the capacity to mine a minimum of 800 000 m³ per month.

The work will include the opencast mining sequence of bush clearing, drilling and blasting overburden, overburden mining, drilling and blasting of coal and coal mining. The contractor will undertake all other activities such as haulage road maintenance and dust suppression.

The coal mining company is currently producing approximately 200 000 tpm of coal, but is targeting to achieve 300 000 t after commissioning the new equipment, and 500 000 t as a result of additional capacity from contractors. In the tender notice, Hwange said prospective bidders should also indicate separately their capacity to commission in-pit coal dry screening and crushing plants to process a minimum of 200 000 tpm of coal.

Contract mining companies would be paid on a set price per tonne of coal mined, according to a spokesperson for Hwange Colliery. “This will enable us to meet our obligations as a company as this will see us realising at least US$ 13 million in revenue. The terms of the contract will also require the winner to employ Hwange workers.”

Contracting companies are enabling mine owners to intensify their focus on fewer business functions while contractors focus on mining. The arrangement has proved effective in opencast coal mines.

Edited from various sources by Katie Woodward

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/mining/17102013/hwange_colliery_invites_bids_for_contract_mining_services_147/