By NATION REPORTER
PEOPLE’S Alliance for Change (PAC) president Andyford Banda has questioned why Government has entrusted a giant mine Mopani Copper Mines to an investor who has no trace in the mining industry.
[ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”4,5,6″ ihc_mb_template=”2″ ]
Mr Banda said there is need to answer some questions why International Resources Holdings (IRC) who acquired 51 percent shares in Mopani with an investment commitment of US$1.1 billion has no traceable information about mining.
He said IRC is said to be a subsidiary of International Holdings Company (IHC) but on their website there is no mention that their subsidiary has 51 percent shares in a copper mine in Zambia and they were making an investment of US$1.1 billion.
“We are not doubting the transaction, we just want some questions to be cleared because we all want this deal to work, we want this question to be out of our heads.
“I was very perturbed that we are entrusting a mine to an investor of no trace of where they are, what they do, where they are doing mining commodity trading or doing value addition,” he said.
Mr Banda said the information related to a company in Dubai has generic information on their website.
He said the profile that the company has does not talk about mining, no announcement was made, the website does not show the key people like management, therefore, people need to know when the company was registered in Abu Dhabi.
Mr Banda also said people want to know whether IRC is not just a show company and whether Government has not planted an investor with their friends from Abu Dhabi.
He said if ZCCM-IH and Lusaka Stock Exchange did a due diligence regarding the investor, they should avail information to the public so that suspicions can be cleared.
[/ihc-hide-content]
