Hwange Colliery



Hwange Colliery Company Limited (Formerly Wankie Colliery Company Limited) is the name of a company in Zimbabwe (Formerly Rhodesia) and of its associated coal mining, processing and marketing. It was founded in 1899, Mining operations are located near Hwange (known as Wankie until 1982) in the province of Matabeleland North. The company's headquarters are in Hwange and registered office the capital Harare and a regional office in Bulawayo.Its stock is listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and is a component of its stock index, the Zimbabwe Mining Index. It is also listed on the London Stock Exchange and Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Coal transportation is by road and rail. The Colliery owns its own railway system. Handover station to NRZ is Thomson Junction Hwange Colliery Company Limited operate an open cast mine and underground mine. The town Hwange (Wankie) is a town that grew form the mining of coal in the area GPS Coordinates 18°23′0.155″S 26°28′12.03″E.

On June 6, 1972 Wankie coal mine disaster took place, when a series of underground explosions occurred at the Wankie No. 2 colliery in Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe), which was owned by the Anglo-American Corporation, Four hundred and twenty-six miners lost their lives - thirty six Europeans and three hundred and ninety Africans. Apart from the one hundred and seventy-six Rhodesians who died, there were ninety-one Zambians, fifty-two from Mozambique, thirty-seven from Malawi, thirty Tanzanians, fourteen Britons, twelve South Africans, nine from South West Africa, four from the Caprivi Strip, and one from Botswana. The disaster provoked reaction throughout the world, and messages of sympathy poured in from all quarters, and included those from Queen Elizabeth, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the British Foreign Secretary, The Pope, and the Prime Minister of South Africa, B. J. Vorster, it remains the deadliest mine accident to date in the country's history.