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Ben Mwila backs Katumbiover restriction on movement of copper conc

Ben Mwila backs Katumbiover restriction on movement of copper conc
By George Chellah
Sunday March 25, 2007 [02:00]

NATIONAL Democratic Focus (NDF) president Ben Mwila yesterday backed the decision by Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Katanga Province governor Moses Katumbi to restrict the movement of copper concentrates from that country. And Mwila said there was need for the government to develop a system of monitoring the production on local mines in order to get the right figures of production and profitability.

Commenting on Katumbi’s decision, Mwila said the DRC authorities were on the right track. "The Congo is on the right track because if you listen to their argument they are losing money and people are not being honest. They are not declaring the right tonnage," Mwila said. "They are flouting the recommendations and requirements. Every country has got export regulations which must be adhered to." He said the DRC authorities' decision was right because the government wanted to make money. "Government must have revenue. We should just try to be honest in our business, we must be transparent while we make money," Mwila said.

On the local mines, Mwila suggested that there was need for the government to develop a system of monitoring the production in local mines. "Maybe government must have representation on the mines to monitor production so that figures of production are not manipulated so that we get the right figures from their production and profitability," Mwila said. "For example, are mines like Kansanshi able to account for the gold they are extracting from the copper ore? These are things we must be monitoring as a country. Even Lumwana, when they start, the same should be done." Last Wednesday, some members of parliament raised concern over Katumbi's decision, saying it had led to a lot of trucks being marooned at Kasumbalesa border post.

However, Katumbi said Zambia should not complain much because of the 500 trucks at the border, only 41 had Zambian registration numbers. He said the rest of the trucks were from countries and he expected those countries to complain more than Zambia. Katumbi said some crooked people were stealing copper concentrates from both the DRC and Zambia and they were making false declarations at the border. "People are stealing materials here. Can Zambia accept to export these stolen materials? So you see, I am protecting both countries. It's also to protect Zambian investors because we are brothers," he said. "People are not paying taxes. Zambia is losing. Congo is losing. Trucks are crossing the borders illegally, with no papers."

He said another problem he discovered was that some of the trucks were illegally transporting radioactive materials such as uranium. Katumbi said his decision was also aimed at protecting people's lives as some of the materials being illegally moved from the DRC across the region were radioactive. He maintained that he would stick to his decision of March 6, 2007 to restrict the movement of unprocessed materials, especially copper, between the DRC and Zambia in the interests of the economies of both countries.

Katumbi said both Zambia and the DRC have been losing in terms of revenue as most of the transported materials entering the border point were under declared. He said before he made the decision to restrict the movement of copper concentrates, the DRC was losing about US$450 million monthly due to false declarations at the border. According to Katumbi's statement of March 6, 2007, dealers were reminded that pursuant to article 85 of the Mining Code and article 218 of its Regulations, export of unprocessed minerals (mineral scraps, malachite etc) was forbidden, except with conditional authority from the Ministry of Mines.

Labels: COPPER, MINING, Moses Katumbi

posted by MrK @ 3:28 AM