Zimbabwean miner RioZim is evaluating proposals from six companies to participate in its $1.2bn power project, as the nation enjoys a return of foreign-investor attention under President Emmerson Mnangagwa. RioZim, which plans to supply the 700MW Sengwa plant from its own coal operations, is in talks with mainly Chinese groups, including State Power Investment Corp, about the project, Caleb Dengu, RioZim’s director responsible for its energy unit, said on Wednesday. It expected to conclude negotiations after Zimbabwe’s elections later this year, he said. "We are inviting companies as both equity investors and debt providers. We are going for 70% debt and 30% equity," Dengu said. RioZim will participate in both structures. Zimbabwe’s power consumption has fallen as a result of the closure of fertiliser plants and chrome smelters, but it still imports electricity from neighbours like Mozambique and SA to avoid the outages that plagued industry between 2007 and 2017. Since replacing fo...
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