In 1942, the colonial government founded the Rhodesian Iron and Steel Commission (Riscom).
It was sited at the steel plant at Redcliff, to develop the huge iron and limestone deposits nearby.
[1] It suffered from a lack of experienced personnel and low level of production which meant high unit costs.
[3] It was wholly owned by the government of Zimbabwe, until in November 2010, it invited bidders for a 64% stake of the ZISCO group of companies mainly to reduce or liquidate two large debts totalling $340 million, including $240 million to a German bank.
It gets raw materials (such as iron ore) from Ripple Creek mine which is about 14 kilometers from ZISCO.
Up to 200 million tonnes of limestone can be found on an open cast mine which is a few meters from ZISCO.