The Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) says government is still mute concerning the way forward of the operations of Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) and Mopani Copper Mines (MCM). The two mines are the economic bedrock of four major towns on the Copperbelt that include Kitwe, Chingola, Mufulira and Chililabombwe.
MUZ General Secretary George Mumba said the union is still anxiously waiting for the road map from government through the mines Minister Paul Kabuswe who has not shared anything on the matter noting that the union’s interest is to see that the two mines are brought back to full production.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Mumba said the best option is to have the locals run the mines as the country needs to have a footprint and if possible use the two mines as a yardstick for other mines. The other option find a proper equity partner.
He said government’s plan to achieve a 1.3 million tons of copper production this year 2022 is not attainable because some of the key operations like Mopani Copper Mines and Konkola Copper Mines still have unresolved issues adding that the two mines add some good numbers in terms of the total tonnage of Zambia’s annual production.
The union representative re-iterated that the workers, the community and even other stakeholders do not want to see Vedanta Resources coming back to run KCM mine because the company failed to honour the assurances that it had previously given to the nation.
“Vedanta tortured us, the mine was almost grounding to a halt. That’s why for us as workers’ representatives and even the community of the Copperbelt, we are very skeptical about Vedanta. The assurances that he [Vedanta owner] kept giving the nation, he didn’t honour.
So that is why for us as workers’ representatives, Vedanta is a wrong investor, their season has passed and they are history, we don’t see anything different that they can do”, he said. Vedanta is not welcome back as per consensus of our members.
Vendanta’s image in Zambia was further hurt by a video recording that went viral on social media in Zambia were the Vedanta owner was mocking the Zambian leadership of late President Levy Mwanawasa on how he managed to dupe him and buy the copper mine for a song. This incident alone dented the company’s relations with the Zambian general public.
The Minister of Mines Kabuswe has given several assurances and indicative timelines for announcing the way forward on these two important copper mines but no substantive decision has been made. He has conducted physical tours of the two mines and assured that a way forward would be announced soon.
But the procrastination is daily costing the country as copper is currently enjoying excellent prices, which gives the negotiators on behalf of Zambia an upper hand. Moreover, the minister of Finance Situmbeko Musokotwane already announced that government had set a target of hitting 3 million tons of annual copper production in ten years, a goal that may become far fetched if KCM and Mopani fails to timely get back to optimum copper production levels.
