METOREX Limited a company running Chibuluma Copper Mines has informed government of its intentions to place its operations on care and maintenance.
Mines Minister Richard Musukwa confirmed this in Kitwe, but said Government would not allow the mine to send people on the streets.
He said the reasons given by Metorex had nothing to do with the Covid-19 but with its depleted resources.
“Yes Metorex has informed government. But the reasons for placing the mine on care and maintenance have nothing to do with covid-19, but something to do with depleted resources. As government we have opened discussions with Metorex to avoid sending people on the streets,” said Musukwa.
And over 400 miners at Lubambe Copper Mines in Chililabombwe have lost their jobs after the mine terminated the contract of Redpath.
But Musukwa asked Lubambe Copper Mines to put the interest of the workers first before its dispute with Redpath.
“Lubambe as a parent company should protect the interest of the workers while they have a dispute with Redpath. In this critical time mining companies are reducing the cost profile not workers. We don’t want the mines to use workers as the sweeping rock under these critical times. Lubambe, Metorex and Mopani should protect the workers,” he said.
Musukwa said the decision by Mopani to place its Kitwe and Mufulira mines on care and maintenance was an illegality.
He added that the 90 days notice given by Mopani Copper Mines is not meant to stop operations.
“We have noted that the mine had intended to put its mines on care and maintenance. But government takes great exception to such moves. We need to sit down and dialogue and provide a sustainable way of doing (things) during this critical time and ensure that the workers on the Copperbelt and North Western that their jobs are guaranteed and protected and ensure that Mines are sustained.”
“So the Ministers of Finance, Mines and Labour will be on the Copperbelt to ensure that this is done well. We also welcome Zambians that will come on board with information that will help the sector navigate during this time are welcome to provide information. What we want as government is to be inclusive and allow a broad spectrum of Zambians to be involved as we structure forward during this critical time,” said Musukwa.
“One key element is to ensure that Mopani reduce its operating cost. We would like to speak survival modes and it is to use local contractors who are at low cost. The 90 days notice is not meant to stop operations. It is meant to ensure that a survival mode is structured, that is in the spirit of the law.”
3 responses
As long as exploitation of resources in Zambia will depend on foreign capital, the government will always be held at ransom. It is time Zambians learnt that agriculture is far much better than copper, and will always have work for everyone. Unlike minerals that depend on the guy with resources to dig them, and decide the quantity. It is ironic that in Zambia, where certain public figures claim to be billionaires, none comes forth to relieve these foreigners of mines, r is it that they do but the government of the day does not allow them? It is time people see the worthy of leaders not by their robust campaign budgets but by how much they invest in the local economy. There is no way the government should be squabbling with investors in the mining area when there are politicians who can afford the luxury of chattering aeroplanes for campaigning. The PF may have useless policies administered by thugs who have never run corporations, but the opposition is equally failing, for closure of a mine is more of a national issue than that of a single political party and their standing by the sides watching and praying that the same brings down the government in 2021 is indication that they will not fare well, for why should they wait for 2021 when they can bail the government out now?
That’s what happens when a country is simply a point of extraction and not a point of trade. Zambia like many other African countries are extraction zones for minerals and not trading zones. People with resources from western countries come to extract and leave Africa with toxic substances and dangerous holes in the ground. Africa despite all mining activities still remains poor. The day africans will rise to begin owning mine and fuel operations and stop looking for FDI’S and being too dependent on having jobs coupled with weeding out corruption Africa will be great. The continents biggest farmers are foreigners and the people who own mine operations are foreigners when our small miners want to do the job they face huge obstacles from govt and high costs to register or simply the operations are given to caders who know nothing about mining. Banks give loans to foreign investors and make it hard for our own people to obtain. We have lost confidence in our own skin and rely on the white man too much for aid and donations and many other things. We need to be confident in our own abilities as Africans and that way Africa can be great.
We need to work hard to be independent copper producers and owners of mine operations as Africans and not work hard to keep or save jobs when investors arm twists the government. What will stop the investors from having their own way next time again and again?. Time for Africa to think differently