The Zambia Chamber of Mines has welcomed recent developments regarding investment roadmaps for Konkola Copper Mines and Mopani Copper Mines announced by Government.
Chamber of Mines Chief Executive Officer Sokwani Chilembo said any breakthrough regarding the protracted process is a positive development.
Speaking in a telephone interview, Mr Chilembo said he is hopeful that issues of securing investors for the two mines will move quickly.
He said the business distress on the Copperbelt as a result of the impasse concerning the matter will be solved once the issues are concluded.
“This is the resolving of the business distress on the Copperbelt. We hope it happens quickly. At least there seems to be some progress,” said Mr Chilembo..
Last week, Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane announced that Government will soon decide an investor to take over from Mopani Copper Mines, with China’s Zijin Mining Group, Norinco Group, Sibanye Stillwater Limited and an investment vehicle owned by ex-Glenore Plc officials as prospective investors.
Meanwhile according to Reuters News Agency monitored by ZANIS, Zambia is close to resolving a dispute with Vedanta Resources over its Konkola Copper Mines, with a deal over the future of the partly state-owned unit “imminent”,
The report quotes Minister of Mines and Minerals Development Paul Kabuswe saying: “The negotiations are advanced and an announcement is imminent,”
Zambia’s Mines Minister Paul Kabuswe told Reuters. “We need to tie the loose ends first so that we don’t have a recurrence of what happened in the past.”
Kabuswe, who has been negotiating alongside finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane, said the talks would also resolve KCM’s outstanding payments to suppliers and contractors, and technical aspects of the operations.
He, however, declined to give further details.
KCM has battled to attract investment since relations between Zambia and Vedanta broke down several years ago, culminating in the state’s take-over of the KCM assets and forced liquidation in May 2019.
The move triggered protracted legal battles, with Vedanta approaching an arbitration court in London to fight off the seizure of the copper assets.
Reuters further reports that a deal could help unlock funding to advance the Konkola Deep Mining Project, which holds one of the world’s richest copper deposits, but requires investment of as much as US$1.1 billion.
This is the resolving of the business distress on the Copperbelt. We hope it happens quickly. At least there seems to be some progress,” said Mr Chilembo..
1. When the Late Michael Sata, was campaigning to kick out MMD, he was very much against Chinese Investments in Zambia. He disliked China because it was doing business with MMD. Sata was rhetorically against China and boasted that he would do business with Taiwan if he became president. During the PF Kabwe Convention, Sata denounced China in front of the US Ambassador to Zambia who was invited to tend the PF Caucus because USA wanted an Anti-China government in Zambia. Then Sata won, got into State House, his rhetoric & lies caught up with him, he realised that the world was no longer in the 1970s. He humbled himself, continued doing business with China, and ate from his vomit.
Sata made those sentiments out of politics. He was aware majority of Zambians did not like Chinese investors. In talking about Taiwan, it was about getting funds from the Taiwanese government to help fund his campaign.
Guy Scott in his book Adventures in Black and White clarified Sata’s so called change to embrace China as nothing but politics.
2. Then came HH, who sang the same theme-song like Sata, sidelining China while in opposition, hoping the West would come to invest in Zambia. In the last 23 months, HH has made countless global trips and still, no Western investors are willing to bring billions into Zambia. Apparently, a $25 Billion pledge from American Investors was made to HH, including for the mining industry, while giving a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Centre /USA in October 2019. Like Michael Sata, HH got into State House, and once again the current man in State House is running to China for Investors to rescue our mines. History is repeating !!!