Mining Boom Drives Demand for Explosives and Industrial Chemicals

Vice President Chiwenga touring Midlands industrial companies

Zimbabwe’s rapidly expanding mining sector is driving a surge in demand for explosives and industrial chemicals, highlighting both new economic opportunities and significant gaps in the country’s domestic manufacturing capacity.

The issue came into focus this week when Vice President Constantino Chiwenga toured key chemical and manufacturing companies in the Midlands industrial hub of Kwekwe. The visit included facilities operated by Intrachem, Sable Chemicals, Global Union Alloy, and Zimchem.

During the tour, Chiwenga stressed the urgent need for Zimbabwe to increase local production of explosives used in mining operations, warning that the country still relies heavily on imports to meet demand.

Zimbabwe’s mining industry has expanded sharply in recent years, buoyed by rising global demand for minerals such as gold, lithium, platinum and chrome. The government has repeatedly identified mining as a cornerstone of economic growth and foreign currency generation.

But as production volumes increase, so does the need for blasting materials used to break rock in underground and open-pit mines.

“We visited Intrachem, a company that is making explosives specifically for the mining industry. The mining sector is growing rapidly and to extract the minerals underground requires a lot of explosives,” Chiwenga said.

Industry analysts say explosives are among the most critical and often overlooked components of mining supply chains. Without reliable supplies of blasting materials, mining operations can face delays, higher operational costs, and logistical disruptions.

For Zimbabwe, the situation is compounded by limited local manufacturing capacity. While companies such as Intrachem produce some explosives domestically, current output is still far below the levels required to support the expanding mining sector.

As a result, mining companies have continued importing explosives, increasing costs and exposing the industry to supply chain risks.

“We have been importing these explosives because what we were producing locally was not sufficient,” Chiwenga said after meeting company executives and technical teams during the tour.

However, there are signs that the sector could soon strengthen. Officials say renewed collaboration between industrial manufacturers and research institutions could help expand local production and improve technological capacity. The Vice President urged companies to work closely with institutions such as Kwekwe Polytechnic and Midlands State University to develop explosives suited to Zimbabwe’s varied mining conditions. Such partnerships could support research into new chemical formulations, safer blasting technologies, and more efficient production processes.

Meanwhile, the anticipated revival of production at Sable Chemicals could also help boost the supply of key industrial inputs used in explosives manufacturing and other chemical industries.

“With Sable Chemicals coming on board, we see this industry growing very fast,” Chiwenga said.

Economists note that strengthening the explosives manufacturing sector could have ripple effects across Zimbabwe’s industrial base. Increased local production could reduce import bills, improve supply reliability for mining companies, and stimulate downstream industries in chemicals and engineering.

In the long term, analysts say the country has the potential to develop a fully integrated mining supply chain from chemical manufacturing to mineral extraction, helping maximise value from its abundant natural resources. As Zimbabwe pushes to grow its mining industry into a multi-billion-dollar sector, the ability to produce essential industrial inputs locally may prove just as important as the minerals themselves.

Zimbabwe; mining boom; explosive manufacturing; mining industry; VP Chiwenga