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ABSTRACT
Masvingo City 's iron ore-processing plant (SIMBI Pvt Ltd) was established in 2004 as the city's only heavy industry. It delivers sponge iron, coal, steel and oxygen to consumers across Zimbabwe and exports a substantial tonnage of sponge iron to South Afi'ica. The company employs 350 people, and has become a major iron ore processing plant in the country after the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Corporation (ZISCO) in Kwe Kwe. This paper, based on data gathered in 2007 and 2008, assesses the role of the iron ore processing plant in promoting the city's economy and considers the environmental threats, which emanate fi'om the plant 's operations. Sources of data for the paper included: archival research, interviews with key personnel and field observations. Two key findings emerged fi'om the study: firstly, that the plant has succeeded in boosting the city's of Masvingo's economy through diversification and employment creation, while exports of sponge iron have earned the country considerable forex revenue; secondly, it that the existence of the plant in Masvingo city has generated considerable environmental problems, including land degradation, water, air and noise pollution. The paper suggests a number of possible solutions to the environmental challenges triggered by the existence of this plant.
Keywords:
Environment, iron ore, Masvingo, pollution, diversification, employment, Zimbabwe.
Introduction
Industries play a key role in the economies of both cities and nations. They stimulate growth through their multiple linkages with various sectors of the economy (Tevera, 1986). For major towns and cities, the lack of leading industries can be viewed as a problem from the perspective of sustainable development (Mapira, 1997). According to The New Encyclopaedia Britannica (1980), characteristics that a modern economy is expected to display include:
* Mechanisms for the permanent creation or absorption of innovationsintechnology and organization. Themechanisms ensure the development of new dynamic sectors to replace those that are declining or are in a state of stagnation,
* The use of more efficient technologies in every branch of economic activity,
* The production of goods and services, which predominate over agriculture in terms of value,
* The development of capital-intensive activities in place of labour-intensive industrial activities,
* An increase in the size of the productive sector while increasing output per capita becomes the norm rather...