A large-scale fire broke out on December 30 at one of the main processing units of Dingsheng Minerals, located in the Chibuto district, Gaza province, causing material damage and leaving the future employment of over 600 workers uncertain.
The incident, caused by a technical failure during welding work on some equipment, resulted in the total destruction of one of the heavy sand processing lines and caused losses estimated at over $10 million.
“Preliminary investigation results indicate that sparks from the welding fell onto flammable material located on the first floor of the facility, igniting the fire, at a time when some workers were on collective leave,” explained Jerónimo Mutisse, head of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy at the Gaza Provincial Infrastructure Service.
Cited by Rádio Moçambique, he added that “despite the firefighters’ intervention, the flames spread rapidly, making it impossible to prevent the destruction of the facility, which was completely reduced to ashes.”
Regarding the employment impact, Mutisse stated that workers assigned to the destroyed production line could be reassigned to other work areas, although some may face temporary suspension of their contracts, depending on administrative decisions.
“The plan is to relocate workers to other production lines. However, depending on administrative decisions, there may be a temporary reduction in activity, and some employees could temporarily be without duties, since the structure was completely destroyed,” he detailed.
Dingsheng Minerals is engaged in heavy sand mining, operating a factory valued at $700 million (59.6 billion meticais), located on an area of 3,000 hectares and equipped with two production lines capable of processing 10,000 tons of minerals per day, primarily titanium ores.
Source: Diário Económico
