Chinese company, Dinson Colliery, was last Friday honoured for excellence in protecting the environment and assisting communities in Hwange and surrounding areas.
Dinson Colliery, which is a subsidiary of Tsingshan Holdings undertaking the massive US$1 billion Mvuma steel plant, operates Zimbabwe’s biggest coke battery which began production in June this year.
The plant located near Lukosi just outside Hwange town has changed the face of the rural community with state-of-art office buildings.
The awards were conducted by the CSR Network Zimbabwe in conjunction with the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and recognized enterprises in Matabeleland North Province, under the theme, “Celebrating Sustainability Excellence — Towards Vision 2030”.
The awards were held at the close of the 5th Business Summit held by CSR Network Zimbabwe here.
Winners were from diverse sectors and industries that have created a positive impact on Zimbabwe’s sustainable development and the promotion of the Government’s Vision 2030 and the global Sustainable Development Goals.
Dinson Colliery was recognised for “Environmental Stewardship and Social Impact” for the company’s environmental projects and conservation initiatives.
A company spokesperson told The Herald that the company would continue on a path of sustainable development and partnered EMA and other stakeholders to ensure that its operations were above-board.
The company is assisting the nearby Dinde community in building a dam, providing equipment.
It has also drilled boreholes for potable water.
“We are delighted to have received the award,” the spokesperson said.
“We are taking the lead in preserving the environment in liaison with EMA. In April this year, we partnered with Green Shango Environmental Trust and Forest Commission to plant trees at Dinson Colliery. It was an initiative to replace, step by step, trees that had been cut down during the construction of the plant.”
He added: “Dinson Colliery is an organisation that puts environmental concerns at heart. It will not be a good business model for us to concentrate on making profits at the expense of permanent damage and neglect to the environment.
“The community needs to be protected from pollution and environmental degradation.”
Dinson Colliery said it was implementing a number of systems to ensure that its operations were environmentally friendly, especially with the surrounding community being a dry area characterised by water challenges.
It has acquired advanced technology to control air pollution levels in and around its operations and has acquired dust suppression vehicles to ensure the movement of trucks will not create a lot of dust on roads leading to the plant, in addition to tar roads.
Dust is one of the major concerns for Hwange residents who have complained about failure by other mining ventures to suppress dust or surface roads.
Further, the company installed equipment to trap some dangerous gases from escaping into the atmosphere.
The spokesperson said: “EMA conducts regular inspections which we are subject to. As such if there are loopholes or oversights in our environmental management systems, EMA as the regulator regularly provides direction.”
In what is seen as a positive trajectory for Chinese companies operating in the country, often under fire for environmental management and social issues, three of them, Dinson, South Mining and Sino Hydro Corporation, were honoured last Friday.
Other categories included, Social Impact, Sustainability Innovation, Projects In Priority Areas, Projects in Aspirational Districts/Difficult Terrains; Responsible Supply Chain Category, Biodiversity, Clean Energy, among others.
Hotels and tour operators, as well as some conservation organisations, were among those honoured.
Matabeleland North Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Richard Moyo who was a guest at the awards challenged other companies to invest in CSR. “As Government, we encourage partnerships and stakeholder participation and the partnership between EMA and CSR Network Zimbabwe is much appreciated.
The Herald
