Abay Industrial Development SC, the company which is spearheading a multi billion birr investments in the Amhara Regional State, is going to venture into the mining sector.
Abay Industrial has secured mineral exploration licenses which would enable it to prospect for industrial minerals used for cement production. The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum on Wednesday granted the mineral exploration licenses to the company.
According to the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, the company will prospect for clay, limestone and gypsum minerals in the Amhara Regional State. The company has allocated 140.7 million birr for the exploration projects and would create 114 jobs for Ethiopians.
The mining agreement was signed by Samuel Hurkato (PhD), minister of Mines and Petroleum and Demiss Teshager, CEO of Abay Industrial Development SC. After signing the agreement Samuel said the mining sector is assisting the transition to building industry-led economy. Samuel said the mining sector can play a key role in substituting imported industrial products with locally manufactured goods. The minister called up investors to engage in the exploration and development of minerals. The Ministry issued 33 exploration and mining licenses in the 2018-2019 budget year that ended June 2019, a record number of licenses the Ministry ever granted.
Demiss said the company would soon commence work on the mineral exploration projects. He further noted that the minerals would be used as industrial inputs for by the cement factory. “The investment projects would play a significant role to the development of the economy as well as creating employment opportunities,” he said.
Abay Industrial Development is in the process of setting up a cement factory in Dejen town, located 24o km west of Addis Ababa, East Gojam Zone, Amhara Regional State at a cost of 8.8 billion birr. Last February the company signed agreements with a Chinese company, Hengyuan Group, and a Danish engineering company, FLSmidth, to build the cement production plant in Dejen town, in the Abay Gorge where there are vast resources of construction inputs in the Amhara Regional State, at a cost of 8.8 billion birr. Once completed within 24 months, the plant will have a cement production capacity of 5,000 tons per day. According to company officials, the cement plant will create jobs for 655 people with the possibility to increase to 1,000 when it starts production with its full capacity.
The Abay Industrial Development SC was established in 2017 with a registered capital of four billion birr raised from 400 shareholders. The company, which was founded by the Amahara Regional State, is setting up seven industrial complex including cement, timber, paper and steel factories in the Amhara region.
