Alisha Mining Plc, an Indian mining firm, established a marble processing plant in Ethiopia at an outlay of USD 2.5 million.
The plant is set up at Burayu city, Oromia State, which is located west of the capital city and sits on 20,000 square meters. General manager of the Indian firm, Ahan Shailesh Hingrah, noted the company imported latest marble cutting machine (Gangsaw) and polishing machines from India and China.
According to The Reporter, the company has finalized the construction of the processing plant and already installed all the machineries.
According to the manager, the plant started production on Tuesday, February 3, 2015. The plant is said to have a capacity of producing 360,000 square meters of polished marble in a year. The factory produces marble slabs that have the size of 2.52 meters by 1.37 meters.
Hingarh commented, “We are producing high quality marble slabs and have started storing it for potential customers. Once we start promoting the company we will have many customers and we do not want to run out of stock. We already have 2000 square meters of marble slab in stock.”
Two years ago Alisha Mining acquired a marble quarry near Mendi town, Benshangul Gumuz State. Currently the quarry is producing 2,400 to 3,000 cu.m. of marble blocks every month. The marble blocks are then transported to Buray where they will be cut into slabs and refined by a 16 head polishing machine. “Our marble quarry is of high quality. So we are producing very high quality marble,” Hingarh commented.
Other than marble slabs, the processing plant manufactures marble floor tiles that are of different size. “We are producing high quality marble products which can be supplied to hotels, real estate and residential houses. The marble quality is so high that it resembles the materials that the Taj Mahal is made of. So buyers in India have shown interest to buy our products,” Hingarh explained.
He furthered the aim of the company is to generate USD six million in a year. The company intends to export 40 percent of its production and channel the rest 60 percent to the local market. According to the general manager buyers in Spain, India, Saudi Arabia and China have already shown interest. “We have started receiving orders,” he said.
Currently the company has employed 30 Ethiopian nationals and the management intends to increase the number to 100 in three months of commencing operation.
Alisha has a future expansion plan. Hingarh explained the company is going to import two additional Gangsaw machines. “We also have a plan to install machines through which wastage of marble can be used for raw materials for paint and we want to install machines which can make monument from marble which have a huge demand in Europe.”
In addition the marble manufacturing business the Alisha’s parent company is intending to invest in real estate business, the general manager explained. It is already in the process of constructing high rise building in the capital of Ethiopia. It has occupied a plot of land around Wollo Sefer in order to construct 15 storey multipurpose building. The building is going to be commercial center and apartment.
In addition to this Alisha Mining is keen to invest in coal and iron ore exploration and production investment projects.
Hingarh noted the total investment in Alisha Mining has been done by its shareholders and no loan has been taken from banks.
Source: The Reporter
