…the Minister of Mines discloses that all the transaction documents have been signed, urges unions to be patient because government wants the best deal for Zambians
By NATION REPORTER
GOVERNMENT has announced that all the transaction document for Vedanta Resources to take full operational control of Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) have been signed and that fears that the giant copper mine would slide in to care and maintenance were unfounded.
[ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”4,5,6″ ihc_mb_template=”2″ ]
And government has disclosed that the new management of Vedanta at KCM including its CEO was already in Chingola and had since visited the Nchanga Rangers and Konkola Blades football clubs, an indication that Vedanta would be supporting sports apart from their corporate social responsibilities.
Paul Kabuswe, the Minister of Mines and Minerals Development has appealed to mine unions and Zambians in general to be patient and allow the process of reviving KCM to fully run so that government should get the beast deal for the country.
Mr Kabuswe said in an interview yesterday that after the initial signing of the transaction documents, there was a three-month period in which the shareholders agreement and the implementation agreement had to be signed, which had already been done.
He said after the signing the transaction documents, there was need to deal with ancillary agreements, which included the global settlement agreement and the bridge financing greement.
“My appeal to the unions is that let them be patient and allow the process to run. KCM will not go into care and maintenance, not even Mopani…none of them because all the transaction documents have been signed. Governments have made mistakes because of people who do not want to be patient and allow the process to run so that we get the best for the country.”
“When you have an agreement of the magnitude of KCM, you have to be careful and strategic. After the signing of all the transaction agreements, there were ancillary settlements which included the global settlement agreement and the bridge financing agreement. In the bridge financing agreement, Vedanta is supposed to open an escrow account together with KCM or ZCCM-IH where they will deposit the bridge financing facility,” Mr Kabuswe said.
Mr Kabuswe disclosed that the Escrow Account between Vedanta and ZCCM-IH would be activated in the next 72 hours from yesterday and that Vedanta would immediately deposit a Bridge Financing Facility of US$25 million which he said was agreed on in the Shareholders Agreement and the Implementation Agreement.
Mr Kabuswe also revealed that there was what is called the off-take agreement between government and Vedanta, where the process was requiring that Vedanta should replace Trafigura from which government had been receiving short-term financing.
“All the documents as we speak have been signed and what delayed Vedanta from fully moving into KCM was that we had entered into the festive holidays and the banks could not get back to us on time,” he said.
Mr Kabuswe however, said there was one critical component that had to be dealt with before government could remove the Provisional Liquidator, which was the creditors Scheme.
He explained that the creditors scheme was an asset that had a lot of creditors and that Vedanta had agreed to pay off the creditors, but only after the Provisional Liquidator had been removed.
“But we cannot remove the Provisional Liquidator without registering the scheme of arrangement with the courts and the mine unions know this…I told them and explained everything to them. As I am talking to you, the scheme of arrangement is being registered in the courts and when it is successful, that is when we can remove the Provisional Liquidator. All the creditors will be called…there is a lot of work to be done,” he explained.
And Mr Kabuswe said he is shocked that some miners on the Copperbelt on Wednesday staged a protest demanding that they be paid the K2, 500 Vedanta had pledged as a one-off-pay bonus.
“Government had demanded from Vedanta that the company could not just return to KCM and negotiated a 20 percent salary increase for the miners, a K2, 500 one-off-pay bonus and a US$20 million for the Corporate Social Responsibilities. As minister, I have done my part, ZCCM-IH has its part and Vedanta has also done its part. We now leave it to the courts to do their part and we hope to fast-track the court process,” Mr Kabuswe said.
[/ihc-hide-content]
