Maravi

MUZ calls for assessment of mines on Copperbelt

MUZ calls for assessment of mines on Copperbelt
Written by Zumani Katasefa in Kitwe
Monday, January 26, 2009 5:22:53 AM

MINEWORKERS Union of Zambia (MUZ) president Rayford Mbulu has called for the establishment of a team of experts to carry out studies to establish whether the mining companies are running at a loss.

And Citizens For Better Environment (CBE) executive director Peter Sinkamba has said President Rupiah Banda's government lacks confidence in solving the problems that have rocked the country's mining sector.

But labour minister, Austin Liato, said it was not right to start blaming each other in the midst of the problems that have hit the mining sector.

During the newsmakers forum organised by the Press Freedom Committee (PFC) of The Post Newspaper to discuss job losses in the mining sector at Kitwe Little Theatre on Saturday, Mbulu said the government should seriously look at the problems facing the mining sector on the Copperbelt Province.

Mbulu proposed that the government should set up a team of experts that would look at the mines following the recent closures and also establish the liabilities and assets in these companies.

"At a point when one steps out, government must step in to end asset stripping in the mines. Not too long ago miners in Luanshya went into destitution. There would be a lot of crime if nothing urgent is done to ensure that the Luanshya Copper Mine starts operations," he said.

Mbulu said about 700 jobs risked being cut at Mopani Copper Mine (MCM) in Mufulira.

"The future for Mopani is not bright if the worst goes to the worst. Mopani would pull out from Mufulira and 700 jobs would be lost," he said.

Mbulu also said the banks in Lunshya had held on to the benefits of some miners who owed the financial institutions in terms of loans.

He said some miners in Luanshya got as little as K2 million as their terminal benefits and that this money had been held in the banks.

"Banks have held on to the miners’ benefits. Microfin is recovering everything, and Bayport is only recovering the principle amount," he said. "A lot of miners even failed to go home because their money was held in the banks. In Chambishi it is just the same. People walked away with nothing."

Mbulu added that it was unfortunate that Baluba Mine was left with 25 people to manage the care and maintenance programme.

"The concentrator was left with no human being, and it was the concentrator that flooded. The whole mine may flood," Mbulu said.

And Sinkamba said if the government had confidence it could have utilised about K1 billion from the money in its reserves to bail out some mining companies in the country such as Luanshya Copper Mines (LCM), which has since closed.

"If it is true that the K1.3 billion is still in the reserve we can easily recapitalise the Luanshya mine," Sinkamba said.

He said the country had enough financial and human resource that could be used to keep the mines afloat.

"The idea of waiting for foreigners to come and invest in our mines should come out of our minds," he said.

Sinkamba said the problems that had hit the mines on the Copperbelt Province needed urgent intervention from the government.

He also disclosed that the investors in the non-operational LCM, who have since pulled out, owed the government US$20 million in environmental liabilities.

"Job and care maintenance is nothing. Government should have secured the US$20 million as environmental liabilities. We do not seem to implement such laws. It will be an insult to learn that these people have disappeared and we do not know how much money has been secured to address the environmental liabilities," he said.

Sinkamba revealed that various mining companies operating in Zambia owed government about US$200 million in environmental liabilities and that it was difficult to understand how government would recover this money.

"During privatisation of the mines, these investors refused to take on board environmental liabilities so government inherited these liabilities," Sinkamba said.

But Liato said this was not time to apportion blame on one another in view of the crisis in the mines.

He said people should understand that the problems that had hit the mining sector were a result of the world economic recession.

Liato said everyone should be engaged in trying to find a solution to the problems that had rocked the country's mining sector.

"This is like an economic tsunami. The answer to this problem would not only come from government alone," he said.

Liato said the government would accept any investor who would express interest in investing in the mining sector as long as they met the requirements.

He said it was sad that some people were condemning the Chinese investors in Zambia and yet they had not effected any job cuts in their companies following the world economic crunch.

"In Chambishi, the Chinese would be employing about 1,000 people this January," he said.

Liato said the government would not tolerate any arrogance from investors because they were expected to respect the local workforce.

He also disclosed that this year the government would step up labour inspections to find out how many positions were held by expatriates in various companies.

Liato said the closure of the Nkana smelter by Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) was not as a result of the global financial crisis.

Liato also urged employers not to take advantage of the global credit crunch to lay off workers in the country.

Mines minister Maxwell Mwale last week disclosed to Parliament that 3,072 jobs had been lost in the country's mining sector on the Copperbelt Province.

Labels: CBE, MINING, MUZ, PETER SINKAMBA, RAYFORD MBULU

posted by MrK @ 5:22 AM