Bindura is a town in the province of
Mashonaland Central
Mashonaland Central is a province of Zimbabwe. It has an area of 28,347 km² and a population of 1,152,520 (2012 census), representing about 8.5% of the total Zimbabwe population.
Geography
Background
Bindura is the capital of the ...
province,
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 ...
. It is located in the
Mazowe Valley
Mazowe is a village in Mashonaland Central province in Zimbabwe.
Notable people
*John Bredenkamp
*Fortune Chasi
*Chenhanho Chimutengwende
* Paul Tangi Mhova Mkondo
*Auxilia Mnangagwa
* Grace Mugabe
*Joseph Msika
Joseph Wilfred Msika (6 Decem ...
about 88 km north-east of
Harare
Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its ...
. According to the 1982 Population Census, the town had a population of 18,243. This rose to 21,167 in the 1992 census and in the 2012 census it had reached 46,275. It is the administrative capital of the province.
Bindura Nickel, now called Trojan Nickel Mine, a subsidiary of
Mwana Africa plc, mines
nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...
,
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish ...
and
cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, ...
in the area and operates a
smelter
Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a c ...
refinery just south of the town.
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor p ...
and
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn ( North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. ...
are grown intensely in the region. The first basic school in Bindura opened in 1912.
The perennial
Mazowe River flows around Bindura and through its north-eastern perimeter.
Bindura was originally named Kimberley Reefs after the
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...
mine which was opened in 1901, and changed to Bindura in 1913 when the
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...
arrived. Bindura is probably an Anglicised version of the Shona phrase, ''pindura mhuka'', meaning "turn the game".
Notable people
Freeman HKD (b. 1988), singer-songwriter
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bindura
Populated places in Mashonaland Central Province
Provincial capitals in Zimbabwe
1901 establishments in the British Empire