Zimasco carries  out mining operations in its own right at Peak Mine and Railway Block in Shurugwi and at Valley Mine while tributor and co-operative miners are contracted to produce chromite ore from Zimasco-owned mining lease areas along the Great Dyke and Railway Block in Shurugwi.

Chrome Resources & Reserves

The Great Dyke chromite seam deposits span the entire dyke.  Zimasco geologists have further divided the Great Dyke, for ore reserves and geological monitoring purposes, into the North, Middle and North Dyke regions.  A total of 600 000 tonnes per annun of chromite ore are produced from the Zimasco Mining Areas.


Shurugwi & South Dyke
Shurugwi and South Dyke Division is responsible for Ore Supply mainly from Shurugwi , Lalapanzi area, Guine Fowl ( Valley Mine) and South of Shurugwi. Ore bodies around Shurugwi and Guine Fowl(Valley Mine) are  largely podiform deposits whilst Lalapanzi and South of Shurugwi are predominantly in seam form.

Peak  and Railway Block Mines are underground mining operations and they employ the sub-level open-stoping mining method. Unlike Podiform areas, Lalapanzi and South of Shurugwi  operations are mainly on the Dyke and mining is done using the strip mining method to a maximum of 22m depth. Zimasco engages several Tributors across  the Dyke ranginging from manual operators to mechanised operators.

Average quality for Shurugwi and South Dyke Ores is  40.3% Cr2O3  with Cr/Fe ratio of 2.28.

Middle & North Dyke (Mutorashanga) Middle & North Dyke (Mutorashanga)

The division covers the northern 300 km stretch of the Great Dyke, from Sebakwe Dam to the Snake Head. All mining is outsourced to Tributors.

Mining in the Middle Dyke is mainly in Ngezi and Darwendale areas where there is a combination of surface strip mining operations and underground operations. This medium hardness ore is  typically 42 % Cr2O3 with a Cr/Fe ratio of 2.2.

In the North Dyke section, all mining is from underground, utilizing a combination of  mechanised operations and non-mechanised operations. The ore is highly friable with quality from this section being very high with %Cr2O3 up to 49% and Cr/Fe ratio up to 3.