Maravi

Govt asks Mopani to hand over mine

Govt asks Mopani to hand over mine
Written by Mutuna Chanda in Kitwe
Saturday, March 07, 2009 10:24:40 AM

MINES minister Maxwell Mwale has asked Mopani Copper Mine (MCM)ís shareholders to officially handover the mine to the government as opposed to putting some of its operations under care and maintenance.

But National Union of Miners and Allied Workers (NUMAW) president Mundia Sikufele has challenged the government to tell Zambians that it will be ready to run Mopani if it takes over instead of keeping it idle.

In a December 2008 analysis that was presented to shareholders and separately to Mwale and labour minister Austin Liato as well as to President Rupiah Banda, Mopani management recommended the closure of the Mufulira mine and putting on care and maintenance its four other shafts in Kitwe.

This left an uncertain future for over 9,000 Mopani employees.

In an interview yesterday following a meeting between the government and shareholders of Mopani on Thursday, Mwale said the government was extremely concerned with the future of the mine.

"As a government, we are really concerned about the future of the mine and we asked them to hand it over back to the government," said Mwale. "We also asked for some time before they put the mine under care and maintenance. I am following that up by putting the matter in writing to them today (yesterday). So let us leave it at that; we cannot discuss correspondence."

But Sikufele challenged the government to call for a tripartite meeting involving itself, Mopani and the labour movement.

"As long as we are not given an official position, we will be groping in the dark. Government should tell us if it will ready to run Mopani once it takes over instead of keeping it for the breeding of cockroaches and lizards,” Sikufele said.

He also said it was not enough for the government to say that it was taking over the mines without continuing with production of copper.

And Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) general secretary Oswell Munyenyembe complained that MCMís position on closing the Mufulira mine and putting its four other operations under care and maintenance was being done behind the unions' backs.

"We'll leave it to the government since the minister said he is aware of the Mopani position," Munyenyembe said. "It's up to Mopani and government to address this issue. They have been doing this behind our backs and this puts us in an awkward position."

He said mine workers at Mopani were anxious over their fate in view of revelations that the Mufulira mine had been recommended for closure and four other operations to be put under care and maintenance.

"Since the minister says he is aware and we have a pending request to see the President, we would like to be granted an appointment to see the President and address this issue with him," said Munyenyembe.

And Patriotic Front (PF) Kankoyo member of parliament Percy Chanda described the position taken by Mopani over the closure of Mufulira mine as an insult.

Chanda argued that the reason that Mopani gave on poor operator and maintenance skills brought about by the lack of vocational training facilities was not tenable as there were enough artisans in the country.

He also argued that transporting copper from the mine to whichever destination was not the responsibility of the mine as the cost was borne by the buyer.

He further dismissed the reason of unreliable supply of electricity.

"I live in Mufulira and we only had the issue of power outages in one quarter of the year but even then, the mine was favoured," said Chanda.

"The mine would have power in the plant and the only ones who would not have electricity are the people in the townships not the mine. They should just be honest and say they used to outsource on almost everything even what could be gotten locally. Just imagine, the mine would import safety pins and first aid dressing. They would bring in their brothers day in and day out to come and work at the mine creating unemployment for the local people but now after seeing that they have no money to pay the contractors, are they going to blame us? Today after terminating the contractors' contracts, 90 per cent of the mine is being run by Zambians and they say we don't have skills. This is an insult to Zambians and they should apologise to us."

Mopani management recommended the closure of the Mufulira mine and placing its four shafts on care and maintenance until the rebound of copper prices to profitable levels.

The mining firm stated that the Mufulira mine was a high cost operation which was at the end of its economic life given the December market price.

Mopani further stated that the copper prices rendered the mines at Nkana unprofitable for the foreseeable future.

Labels: MAXWELL MWALE, MCM, MOPANI, MUZ, NATIONALISATION, OSWELL MUNYENYEMBE

posted by MrK @ 10:25 AM