Africa-Press – Eswatini. Quarrying activities in the country rose by a significant 22.8 per cent.
This has been as a result of road construction projects taking place in the country.
This was disclosed by the Central Bank of Eswatini in its 2021/22 Annual Economic Review Report.
It was reported that quarried stone production grew by 22.8 per cent to 257 871 metric tonnes in 2021, from 210 024 metric tonnes the previous year.
“The growth in quarried stone production benefitted from increased demand from projects that were under implementation in the period under review, notably, the Mbadlane-Manzini road, interchange at Moneni Golf Course, the construction of pro-base roads across the country as well as the construction of other major buildings,” the report disclosed.
It disclosed that in line with higher production volumes, quarried stone revenues accelerated by 41.4 per cent to record E64.2 million in 2021 from E45.4 million in 2020.
The mining and quarrying subsector, which constitutes the production of anthracite coal and quarried stone, is estimated to have grown by a slower 3.3 per cent in 2021 compared to a significant growth of 41.1 per cent in 2020.
Th report suggests that a total sales revenue for mining and quarrying activities increased to E375.1 million in 2021 from E363.3 million in 2020.
“Although the sub-sector continues to illustrate resilience and has recorded positive performance over recent years, it is still reported to be performing way below its potential, given the country’s resource endowments,” highlighted the report.
It was explained that in the year 2021, coal production recorded muted growth, increasing by a marginal 0.6 per cent to 162 681 metric tonnes mainly driven by persistent geological constraints, which weighed negatively on coal yields.
To minimise the negative impact of low yields on locally mined areas, the report stated that unprocessed coal with high yields was imported from neighbouring South Africa for blending with low yield coal locally to enhance saleable coal production.
“With the muted growth in production, coal revenue was lower at E310.9 million in 2021 from E317.9 million in the previous year.
On other minerals, operations at the gold mine remained halted in the period under review, thus no production volumes were reported both in 2020 and 2021,” the report suggested.
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