Maravi

Kansanshi Mine urges suppliers of goods to adopt quality standards

Kansanshi Mine urges suppliers of goods to adopt quality standards
By Joan Chirwa in Solwezi
Thursday April 17, 2008 [04:00]

KANSANSHI Mining Plc has urged suppliers of goods and services in Solwezi to adopt quality standards for their products to maintain supply contracts with the mine. And Kansanshi Mining Plc has advanced its jatropha cultivation project with local farmers as a way of enriching the depleted areas while taking into account modern inventions in the bio fuels industry.

Kansanshi Mining Plc Public Relations manager Godfrey Msiska said the mine had given about 50 per cent consideration to local suppliers for the supply of goods and services in order to promote small-scale entrepreneurs.

"The mine has got a deliberate policy to support local businesses, especially those in Solwezi. We urge the local entrepreneurs and suppliers of goods and services to try and observe the criteria for the provision of any service to the mine," Msiska said on Tuesday.

"The suppliers need to meet the quality standards. They have to be competitive in terms of pricing as well as delivery time of the products. This is the basic criteria for any individual or company to start supplying products to the mine. Once they meet the criteria, there will be no reason for them not to supply goods to the mine."

Msiska said a number of small-scale businessmen within Solwezi had maintained regular supply of products to Kansanshi Mine.

"It is quite easy to do business with Kansanshi Mine as long as business people follow the procedures," Msiska said. " More than half of the business goes to the local suppliers of goods and services and a good number have been quite regular in supplying commodities to the mine."

And Kansanshi Mining Plc Environmental manager Richard Zyambo said the company’s decision to venture into jatropha cultivation was in respect of the need to maintain a safe environment, years after the expiry of the mine life.

"We are currently focusing on areas already disturbed by mining activities and that is where we are encouraging farmers to plant their jatropha," Zyambo said.

"At the moment, we have about 150 farmers under an out grower scheme. Kansanshi is providing all the materials for jatropha cultivation at no fee and we are also giving the farmers farming inputs for other crops so that the country’s food security is not disturbed because of increased interests in bio fuel production."

Zyambo said as much as the company valued its core business of mining, its intention was to attract players in the bio fuels sector to set up a plant in Solwezi for the promotion of the industry.

"The farmers we are working with have been trained. We have entered into three-year contracts with them, and by that time, we will have some seed as we have a guaranteed market for the commodity," Zyambo said.

"The use of bio fuels has taken a lot of interests, so we are hoping to attract investors to come and set up a bio fuel plant in Solwezi once we increase on production of jatropha. And as Kansanshi, we are trying to look at a ratio of one to four in mixing bio fuel and fossil fuels. The rising prices of fuel have raised our cost of production thereby impacting on annual profits."

Labels: KANSANSHI MINING PLC, QUALITY ASSURANCE

posted by MrK @ 5:45 AM