Dorowa is a village in the province of
Manicaland
Manicaland is a Provinces of Zimbabwe, province in eastern Zimbabwe. After Harare Province, it is the country's second-most populous province, with a population of 2.037 million, as of the 2012 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census. After Harare and Bulawa ...
,
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
located 3 km south of the
Save River in the Upper Save valley about 90 km west of
Mutare
Mutare (formerly Umtali) is the most populous city in the province of Manicaland, and the third most populous city in Zimbabwe, having surpassed Gweru in the 2012 census, with an urban area, urban population of 224,802 and approximately 260,567 ...
.
[ The village grew up around the opencast Dorowa Mine where ]phosphate
In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid .
The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...
was discovered in 1945. The mine produces all tonne
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s were mined here in 1996) .
Mine
The mine itself has recently been hit by hard times with power cuts disrupting production and old machinery becoming obsolete with maintenance costs becoming unsustainable. Dorowa Minerals Limited has managed to distance itself from local and regional politics.
The departure of long serving General Manager, Mr Mafukidze in 2012 induced a mixed reaction in the workforce. It has however managed to retain a number of loyal workers who have served the mine for a long time especially Mr C Muushandu ( more than 35 years) Mr Chitata, Mr Guwa, Mr Manzira and Mr Makonye who have all served for more than 20 years. The late Livingstone Mahwite was an employee of note who defied many odds. He had no formal education, started as a ‘garden hand’ for one of the mine managers and rose to become an electrical and telephone technician in the company.
The mine has two residential areas which are Save Heights, a leafy low-density suburb located in a mountain about 2 km from the mine and Tongogara Village located a further 2 km from Save Heights. The mine also has a fully functional clinic that is open to all surrounding residents and an ambulance for emergencies.
References
Populated places in Manicaland Province
Save River (Africa)
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