The country has an important percentage of the world's known reserves of metallurgical-grade chromite. Other commercial mineral deposits include coal, asbestos, copper, nickel, gold and iron ore. Zimbabwe has adequate internal transportation and electrical power networks. Paved roads link the major urban and industrial centers, and rail lines tie it into an extensive central African railroad network with all its neighbors. In non-drought years, it has adequate electrical power, mainly generated by the Kariba Dam on the Zambezi River but augmented since 1983 by large thermal plants adjacent to the Wankie coal field.
Telephone service is problematic, and new lines are difficult of obtain.
The manufacturing sector, already well developed before UDI in 1965, was given a major stimulus by the imposition of U.N. sanctions. The sanctions obliged Rhodesian industry to diversify and create many import-substitution undertakings to compensate for loss of traditional sources of imports. Rhodesian processing of local raw materials also grew rapidly. Major growth industries include steel and steel products, heavy equipment, transportation equipment, ferrochrome, textiles, and food processing. Agriculture is the backbone of the Zimbabwean economy.