The Association of Mine Suppliers and Contractors (AMSC) has called on Government and ZCCM IH to quickly sort out the issues surrounding Chambishi Metals Plc to ensure that it resumes operations and avoid further asset deterioration.
In January 2020, Chambishi Metals Plc was placed under care and maintenance, sending 229 workers onto the streets.
Speaking in an interview with Zambian Business Times- ZBT on 23 March 2021, association president Augustine Mubanga said it was not right to put a processing plant on care and maintenance for over a year when there were enough materials in the country to be processed for both copper and cobalt.
He said Government should instruct the investor to reopen the plant or handover the plant to ZCCM-IH to ensure that the plant keeps operating.
Mubanga said at the current copper prices, it was expected that companies would be increasing production in an effort to take advantage of the rising copper prices on the London metal exchange.
“The issue of Chambishi metals needs to be sorted out as soon as possible. That is a processing plant. You cannot put a processing plant on care and maintenance when there is enough material around the country that can be channeled to the company to process both copper and Cobalt.
“Our appeal to government is that they instruct the investor to reopen the plant, if the investor doesn’t want to, it will be good for him to hand over the plant to ZCCM-IH or government to ensure that the plant is kept busy for the benefit of the country,” he said.
Mubanga said keeping a plant on care and maintenance for over a year may prove to be expensive when they want to reopen the plant either at once or in a phased manner because there would be need for more capital injection to make it active.
Chambishi Metals Plc was involved in the mining, refining and tolling of cobalt and copper in Chililabombwe District of the Copperbelt Province where ENRC Capital owns a 90 per cent stake, leaving the remaining 10 per cent shareholding with ZCCM-IH.
