By NATION REPORTER
KONKOLA Copper Mines (KCM) will be shut down if no remedial measures are taken to save the mining giant, Democratic Party President, Judith Kabemba, has said.
Ms Kabemba said having been born on the Copperbelt she was saddened by the dwindling economic activities in of Chililabombwe, Chingola and Kitwe. She said this inactivity had been exacerbated by the legal battles that the company had faced for over three years now which had resulted in a low or close-to-nothing of production activities at the once giant Konkola Copper Mines (KCM).
“Suffice to say that Konkola Copper Mines has been a source of concern for many stakeholders because the firm has not been operating optimally owing to financial challenges. At this point, there is need to recapitalise KCM so that there is improved production is urgent,” she said.
Ms Kabemba said Zambians may wish to know that the average integrated production at KCM had dropped by 65 percent from 7.5kilo tonnes per month before 2019 when Vedanta was running the mine to 2.7 kilo tonnes.
“As at 2019 before liquidation, KCM was a major employer with 12,000 jobs but today these have declined to 5,000. Where are the 7,000 former miners and their families?
The current liabilities of the mine which stood at $786 million in May 2019 had now tripled to $2.4 billion by March of this year.
Suppliers’ liabilities have increased from US$220 million to US$778 million by May 2022,” she said.
She said while production had gone down, the mine was slowly dying and employees were going for years without any increment, Corporate Social Responsibility Projects such as support to hospitals, schools, soccer teams, sustainable empowerment by KCM was operating at an equal to zero funding, the communities , the people of Chingola, Chililabombwe and Kitwe who suffered the consequences of large scale mining were left vulnerable not benefiting anything.
Ms Kabemba said as this was happening, huge sums of money had been spent by KCM on legal fees which would have been put to good use.
She said her call to duty was to appeal to the UPND Government to expedite the dialogue with Vedanta without delay.
“The matter is out of court for talks and one wonders why the delay now. Conclude the talks and allow that asset to be recapitalized so that economic activities of Copperbelt are brought back to life,” she said.
Ms Kabemba said it was a well-known secret that Vedanta was the legal owner of the mine with 80% shareholding, 80% shareholding is not child’s play, it’s a huge stake in the mine and government must therefore work out a win-win formula for both parties which is the government itself and Vedanta.
She said she was fully aware that the takeover of the asset in the manner it was done by the previous regime was highly irregular and unprofessional that’s why ZCCM _IH and the Zambian government had been in court for years.
She said if the KCM asset continued to deteriorate, there was a risk of KCM shutting down resulting in a significant loss of employment.
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