Expansion of Zambia’s total annual copper production remains a challenge as the re-opening date of Mufumbwe’s Kalengwa mine which is believed to have the highest copper ore grades in Zambia remains undecided.
North-Western Province Permanent Secretary – PS disclosed that he is yet to meet Moxico Resources Zambia (MRZ), a company which has taken over the running of Kalengwa mine in Mufumbwe District as to be able to determine the reopening date of Kalengwa copper mine.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, the North-Western Province PS Grandson Katambi said the new Management should be able to say how far they have gone with preparations for reopening of the mine.
Katambi said the reopening of the Kalengwa Mine will transform the economy of Mufumbwe town as there shall be money circulation as well as good paying jobs within the District. This is expected to spur housing and other community services and infrastructure development.
He said the management should give a briefing on how ready they are and the things they have put in place towards the resuming of operations. Katambi said he will only be in a position to give more details once they have a meeting which was scheduled to take place earlier but has been moved to next week (mid August 2022) due to some circumstances.
“They have to come and brief us on how ready they are, let them indicate when they will open that mine.” He said. Katambi told ZBT that the reopening of the mine will help in solving the challenge of youth unemployment as most of them are expected to be employed from the mine while others may provide support services once the mine starts operating.
Kalengwa mine has been mired in legal complications around ownership but this is were government true efforts can be directed to come up with a win win solution that will allow this mine to become operational and contribute to overall national copper and other minerals production.
Government has a huge youth unemployment problem to immediately solve with the opening up of more copper mines remaining one of the most viable ways to create more jobs and juice up the local economies of various districts across the country.
