Hwange — Coal producer, Hwange Colliery Company Limited (HCCL) will this week receive the first consignment of haulage excavating equipment worth US$5 million from a South African company to augment its ageing mining fleet.

The consignment which comprises of six 40-tonne haulage trucks and two 85-tonne excavators is set to be at the colliery mine by Friday.

Company spokesman, Burzil Dube said the trucks and excavators would be used as support equipment for the dragline which has been down for some time as it was undergoing major repair work.

"The six dump trucks and two excavators would be principally used at the opencast mine as ancillary equipment for the dragline in the movement of overburden material so that coal can be mined," he said.

The dragline, which is one of the colliery's major machinery has been down since October last year and this had resulted in constant load-shedding by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) due to low availability of coal to fire its thermal station in Hwange.

The machinery was only brought back to life a month ago and it remains to be seen if there is going to be an improvement in the supply of coal.

Zimbabwe has always been plunged into constant power blackouts whenever the cash strapped HCCL failed to deliver adequate coal to the adjacent power station.

At the height of economic crisis last year, a sizeable number of local companies resorted to importing expensive coal from neighbouring countries after HCCL cut back on production due to a myriad of

problems. The country needs an average of 400 000 tonnes of coal a month to keep the industries going.

Analysts say most industries will owe their survival to the successful implementation of the power-sharing agreement between the two MDC formations and Zanu PF.