94 copper ingots worth USD 500 Million in transit from Chambishi on the Copper belt to South Africa has gone missing between Kapiri Mposhi and Chisamba.
Central province police commissioner Solomon Jere who confirmed to ZANIS today said the copper laden on two trucks from Chambishi smelter went missing on 27th June 2012.
Dr Jere said the trucks were hired from Cargo Management and logistics Company in Namibia to transport copper which was destined for CNMC international Company in Beijing, China.
He said the two trucks, a Scania registration number N7151OT with trailer number N6303OT and a Volvo registration number N7330OT with trailer number N6747OT were carrying 63 and 31 copper ingots respectively.
He said the trucks driven by Uamunika.T ID number P0408790 and Johanans ID number P0325458 were abandoned in Chisamba area after offloading the copper ingots.
Dr. Jere said police have launched investigations into the matter.
ZANIS
…….and that my friends is how the cookie crumbles!
its impossible for two trucks to carry copper worth USD500m
The maximum load on a truck is 40 Ton
Two truck is 80 Tons
Applying a factor of 0.9 the copper must have been 72 Tons.
This is blister copper which sales at 80% LME price. Â Current price is US$7776 per ton
Total worth of copper on the two trucks  =  USD 555,872
ingots ba engineer, ingots the report says. Who knows what % of purification was made. It it was 99.99% copper ingot then it is more than possible.
Mwana, The Engineer is right. Even if you used the full price, the maximum value can only be US$622,080.00.
What’s wrong with LT when it comes to reporting actual numbers. Last it was ZMK1.0 billion smelter with capital cost of ZMK130.0 billion already spent and now USD500.0 million on two trucks which is literally impossible. Numbers don’t lie so report correctly … some of us make our living crunching them numbers and it is extremely important to report them accurately.
The whole story losses its value all because of wrong reporting, LT we don’t want you to lose credibility because of inaccuracy. Hire a statistician or something to go through your numbers before publishing anything. The Wall Street journal does and you are already a great source of information, don’t do it on the cheap.
Good advise and I hope they follow it, even just a little. They also need an editor to check through their spellings and grammar. These guys have the potential to do better.
Jerabos at work! These guys seem too organised to be handled by ZP, or may be ZP is in it…
MK Macky 2 with an assist from the donch kubeba government!
This is what slows our economy my friends. Refurbish the rail system and put armed soldiers on route, now eliminate these jerabos fools.
Zambian armed forces remember you were hired to protect us from terrorists both foreign and domestic.
I fear for the lives of the two truck drivers because these copper thieves are very ruthless characters. As for the cost of the copper, it cannot be US$500m other wise Zambia would be a very rich nation if you consider the annual tonnage of copper produced. The Police already know who the culprits are but they are waiting for nchekeleko from the robbers.
Pf at work. Raising money to strengthen the party
Ivory and copper lost. Who is doing this? What about the Gold scam. Ba Zambia twafweni twapapata.
OWE OWE MAYO !!!!!!! BATUSESHA
why should I ready this stup!d story if you can’t get your numbers right? Â $500 million is impossible when it comes to two trucks of copy ba kwindi. Â On to the next story, may a real LT reporter wrote that one. Â Editor please school the reporter that wrote this story.
that 500000000 USD worth of copper is equivalent to 5000 trucks ?????????? These must be special trucks with hidden compartments!!!!!!!!
LT please be accurate in reporting figures!how did the two overladen trucks were allowed to ride on our fragile road network?I believe there are safety regulations which observed,anyway police get these economic alien sabotueres and their acompolises
its high time these jerabos starting stealing in solwezi too
For those of us who live on the copperbelt we know that jerabos just steal the copper while the chinese provide the market. we need to deal and with these mushrooming makeshift smelters on the copperbelt mostly run by the chiness and trace where they get their feedstock. How does one run a smelter when theyy do not have a mine.
dont argue as if you were there , you ve been told that that the copper was worth 500million bucks and you are busy shaking your ugly heads. whats wrong with you. are you the thieves that stole the contraband. thats why you are easily caught. someone says you are sleeping with my wife and you tell him no its not your wife but your neighbors wife am sleeping with. thats still adultery isnt. so buck off and concentrate on the substantive issue of copper theft you childish characters.
Be logical man the copper price is $7,714.50 per metric ton If you do calculations to workout the tonnage associated with $500million
500,000,000 ÷ 7714.5 = 64,813.01 tons
which 2 trucks in the world could transport over 64,000 ton of copper in one go?? remember the maximum weight a truck can carry is just 40 tons
Ba LT, two trucks cannot carry 65000 tonns of copper, kindly correct that figure…you have been corrected by alot of bloggers here en you just keeping silent about it
These online editors chabashani kashi did you mean ZMK 500m coz if its USD thats about 2 weeks production and cant be loaded on two trucks perhaps we tell you in ZMK how much USD500m is (exchange rate of 5300)
500,000,000 X 5,300 = ZMK 2,650,000,000,000 Thats just over 2.6 trillion baba on two trucks impossible if it were naine kuti naiba
LT… yaba, I learnt the hard way last time I strongly criticized a blogger called him names turned up later he was right and LT misdirected us…. LT has become a circus don’t fight each other until you verify info first which is on LT….. Don’t call the President CNP before you know what was actually reported on other media reports…. I guess the Bible is right when it says “he who withholds his mouth safeguards his life” Proverbs
LOL. The bible is always right because it is God’s word. So dont even guess my dear, just believe that God is right.
Otherwise your words are wise. God bless you.
Good example on tribal fighting….Deputy Chief Justice Florence Mumba is not Bemba, she is Bemba by marriage she is from Chipata…..watch what you say people
florence is from Luangwa/Fieria
very interesting
Theft, greed, corruption verses national development. The goings can be crazy. When they still they take it to developed countries, sell it and bank the money there. That money will be used by developed countries for their further mega developments as long as the money from stolen copper from Zambia is in their banks. But why do these thieving cons always think of taking our resources away from Zambia make money and keep it away from Zambia? That is part of the lost capital for the country’s development! It will not be recovered, it gone, no more, its history. Where will our capital for our development come from? is it through begging from donors. how do we think really. They come, corrupt our minds and we say yes lets rob our own nation, in midst of underdevelopment and high poverty!Â
Iam beginning to think the former Inspector General, Dr Malama, had a better handle on things. Despite the annoying road blocks being back, copper thefts are on the increase?
Bufi ubu guys. At a selling  price of Copper of US$8 000, that translates into 62 500 tonnes or 31 250 tonnes/truck. It would require 1563 railway wagons(each carrying 40 tonnes) to carry $500 million dollars worth of Copper. LT, check your facts and report correctly.
Does LT have employees, other than the one who uploads articles onto the website?
If I was the investigating officer, I would first establish the where abouts of Mark 2 and General Kanene at the time the Copper went missing…
#23 thanks for correction….also Dr Ngosa Simbykula is not Bemba he is Tonga……but mother is Bemba
If 2 trucks were = usd 500 million dollarsÂ
4 trucks = a billion dollars
Impossible do u know how many trucks go through
Zambian borders and how much money that would amount too…
Nakana BA LTÂ
I just come to LT for the pictures as the news is just scanned around from other sources without verification.
Ba Lusaka times be serious do you even know how much copper is worth $500m is worth an investment a full fleged mine and usrface plants be serious with your reporting imwe
Amazing to see how many comments on the arithmetic correctness of the reported figure. ministers and high level personal are involved in this copper theft problem. It is like cocaine rackets in Colombia or Mexico. This is the same exact situation and the only way to solve it is to brutally deal with the high level government officials spurring this underground economy.
Most of the characters who ended in journalism school are the ones that struggled with maths in primary and secondary school, hence the challenge regarding numbers in most media publications (including newspapers).
Not vanishing but stollen. Please check on TAZARA … Lossing something that can not fit in to the pocket .. If all that monies are to go to gvt I don’t understand why borrowing from other countries to rehabilitate the great east road. It for Zambia to wake up and stop enriching other countries.. hire long distance hauling trucks locally.. keep money in your pockets..