Associate Professor in the School of Mines at the Copperbelt University – CBU Peter Chileshe has advised Government to first look at Vedanta Resources Limited’s records in all the countries it has operated in or is operating in as it moves to make a decision on the way forward for Konkola Copper Mines Plc (KCM).
Prof. Chileshe said currently Vedanta does not have a social license to operate at KCM, which means that the citizens around the mine area were totally against the company.
He said this calls for Government to balance the realities on the ground in Chililabombwe and Chingola and then the capacity for Vedanta to pledge and actually act on the pledge because they were there for about 15 years.
“First of all, the new Government should look at everything in a new way, we expect them to look at Vedanta’s records at KCM, in India, South Africa and other places and judge for themselves. The fact that the social license for Vedanta to operate was not there means that the citizens in Chingola and Chililabombwe were totally against Vedanta at the end of 15 years that tells us something.
“So obviously, the new Government has to balance the realities on the ground in Chingola and Chililabombwe and the capacity of Vedanta to pledge and actually act because they were there for 15 years, so they have a record and they should be judged based on their records,” Prof. Chileshe said.
He said the new Minister of Mines and Minerals should look at ways of encouraging increased production in the mining sector.
Prof. Chileshe noted that copper production has been stuck at about 850, 000 tonnes per annum for a long time due to a number of reasons of which some were from the Government while others were from the investors themselves.
“The Government should look at the mining industry, it has been stuck in terms of copper production at somewhere around 850 000 tonnes per annum for many years. A lot of reasons contributed to this, some being from the investors and some were from the government itself.
“The government was always being accused of tinkering the taxes all the time each year, then on the side of the investor, some of the investors have not brought in their pledged investments, peace and production or profits due to their actions,” he said.
