Friday, March 29, 2024

RB to launch new mine in Solwezi

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File:President Rupiah Banda

PRESIDENT Banda is today expected to officially launch the construction of a multi-million dollar mining investment at Kalumbila near Solwezi in North-Western Province, which is expected to create more than 2,000 jobs once completed.

 

According to a statement by special assistant to the president for Press and public relations Dickson Jere, the president said the Kalumbila Minerals Trident project, owned by First Quantum Minerals, showed that Zambia’s economy was headed for more success under his leadership as more foreign investors continued to pump huge sums of money into the economy.

“The new mine will increase the national coffers through taxes that will translate into more money which my Government will use to improve the lives of Zambians,” President Banda said ahead of the ground-breaking ceremony of the US$1 billion project.

The new mine was expected to start operations in 2014 and with the commencement of operations at Kalumbila Minerals and other new mining projects, Zambia’s copper production is expected to peak at about one million tonnes of copper per annum.

President Banda, who will be in North-Western Province for two days, is also expected to officially open Solwezi Trades Training Institute constructed as part of the Government’s strategy to provide skills education to young people.

The president will further lay a foundation stone for the construction of Zangamenu Bridge and flag off the construction of township roads in Solwezi District.

45 COMMENTS

  1. RB what has come into your brain at this time its when you want to start projects why? election time you are not going to win this year,s elections.God is looking at you as old as you are you cant think you what a president (ukushishita nobupuba atase)

  2. hopeless people will see no good thats the problem zambia jealousy. Learn to be thankful to good work then you will also prosper if you cannot see good then you will remain gnashing your teeth.. RB continue working for the pipo of zambia ignore prophets of doom. aba bemba batila ushitasha mwana wandoshi

  3. This good but should have been let to the Minister of Commerce Trade and Industry to do the officiating and ground breaking ceremonies.
    Just revisit these this campaign strategy if it is helping your popularity or not!

  4. WHAT TYPE OF A PRESIDENT IS THIS.HE CAN’T DELIGATE ALWAYS LAUCHING,LAUNCHING,LAUNCHING EVEN OBAMA AND CAMEROOM ARE VERY SURPRISED .HE CAN SLEEP AT STATE HOUSE HE IS BEING HAUNTED BY LEVY MWANAWASA’S GHOST.

  5. #2and3 what are you talking about, these are not works of bwezani but mwanawasa’s projects. These are the good and hard work of the late president and magande’s regime. So we can’t be cheated because we know those started before RB became the president. Still we shall change the gornment this year.

  6. So happy for Solwezi town, though I have never been there before.

    RB, why not improve Luanshya mine and town (heheh…. a town without traffic lights — or is robots) and bring it back to its lovely glorious days!!!I

    miss that home town….

    ala mwandi, mu umfwafye…

  7. Projects, why can’t they upgrade Lusaka airport. The airport looks like a Bus station and so dirty like a Public toilet. Please upgrade our airport

  8. His Excellency RB is doing very well with all these openings of mines. Give a deaf ear to those who are jealous. We are seeing all the good things you have been doing His Excellency RB. Viva MMD, Pa Nkolokooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

  9. Ba Chrissy, Mwanawasa was MMD and Bwezani is just continuing where he left. Dull thinking, Disgusting , un believable

  10. Maybe we should pause and ask whether these “good policies” that are attracting investors are really benefiting Zambia as they should or the investors are excited because it is a rip off ! Botswana and South Africa are reviewing their laws with regard to mining. Are we learning any lessons from them or we are overwhelmed by the “jobs” these investors offer ?

  11. Is launching and commissioning of projects top on the list of President’s description’s job description? Are there no other pressing issues apart from trotting all over provinces and districts launching and commissioning projects? Nowonder civil servants have been given 7% salary increament instead of the initial 10% agreed upon. 3% is a contribution towards fuel and allowance costs for these country wide project launches and commissionings by HE.

  12. Is launching and commissioning of projects top on the list of the President’s job description? Are there no other pressing issues apart from trotting all over provinces and districts launching and commissioning projects? Nowonder civil servants have been given 7% salary increament instead of the initial 10% agreed upon. 3% is a contribution towards fuel and allowance costs for these country wide project launches and commissionings by HE.

  13. With our deserved Windfall Tax being looted by the MMD through their private deals, RB is simply a jail-bound fellow in waiting.

  14. #11 good question but answer is a big NO. Only RB and his goons should benefit not Zambians. Maybe one day a new zambia shall arise from the ruins of this Zambia which no one cares about.

  15. Oh could this be the mines which former MP kazenene chilufya sold to FQMZ at a very huge amount more than what we sold K CM.But this investors are not helping develop their towns of operation e.g solwezi.

  16. what is the free carried stake to the State ? what percentage of this mine ??

    jobs and stake !!

    anyway presumed jobs are the smoke and mirrors then foreign companies externalize their costs when it comes to not paying a minimum wage or reducing zambian jobs

    rupiah clique must use time to recover an estimated income of USD 175 million in tax revenue between 2003 and 2008 from tax avoidance practices’ by Glencore AG International owned Mopani Copper Mines instead of boasting.

    MMD is a foreign mining companies rip-off !!

  17. Well done our dear president H.E.R.B! Whilst you are delivering prosperity to Zambia, others are in the sidelines throwing insults. Well done for bringing inflation down and we are looking forward to yet another bumper harvest this year which means that every Zambian will have more money in their pockets. You really are like a real father xmas, everywhere you go you deliver a project that will benefit the people – whether it is a mine, a hospital, a new road, a stadium even homes that people can call their own, truly your excellency why should I not vote for you?

  18. #6 #16 and all those above on the negative side must have their brains examined for Satalitis thinking. Levy is gone and only the living will do what he never did. Let this get to your head man! #16 if you continue thinking like that then you are not worth living. Kalimbule mine will be fully operational in 2 to 3 years time and instead of you looking at opportunities that may arise with the same you are busy condeming. I have been to the site and i tell you there is much for you to exploit. appreciate when good things are being done. the biggest problem is people are connecting everything to elections. Should life come to a stand still coz of elections? NO. Can everything be done in 1yr? NO NO. Only if you believe in the 90 days rubbish. Thumbs up RB

  19. Well done! Are working government. A trade School is indeed an investment in the future of our people. The problem with Zambians is we have too many of them who are DULL. Show me which country in Southern Africa is scoring these gains? We need to take our rightful place as the second biggest and well developed economy in Southern Africa. We have been in the back seat for too long and indeed its understandable as we helped our fellow African become independent and spent the little we had to help them. Its now our time… Am in Australia and so much talk about Zambia. Quantas is even planning to start flying to Lusaka from Perth via Mauritius. Every one wants a piece of the pie in Zambia while DULL Zambians watch

  20. IWE INE NDIWASELE, waba ubwamba nge ntambo yachikwepe, usula obe. Pabwatooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

  21. RB has been in office now for just over two years and his investment surge is what the country wants.Please remember that even in Soccer which most of you critics love,the name that is sang loudest is for the scorer of goals in other words the FINISHER.So whether Magande and our beloved late Mwanawasa started these projects as per MMD Manifesto the one scoring goals is RB.So praise him for this.

  22. good work ma president but some of this project give to you ministers the whole president just the simple work you make it very big shame on you PF next govert!!!!!!!!!

  23. whatever you say lets face it. RB is campaigning and should just declare it and disolve parliament.If he is very popular and not scared of any one let him give chance to others to go flat out and start campaigning.By the way there is also a Govt hotel in Solwezi which is complete. Am sure it will be the last gift to solwezi justb before elections.

  24. RUBBISH wasensenla lilya kawa chi nyama soya, you should go and explain to the people of solwezi why they have been suffering dispite having some of the most succesful mines in there area and not hoodwinking them with projects that wont even be completed by your fake state house bootlicking contractors……….we can see through your nonsense you heartless fimo fimo

  25. I love my country and I love RB who is putting in so mush effort to develop it. As for the critics, you are most welcome. Zambia is a free country and RB is ensuring that it remains so.

  26. Before we go harping about the new mine we should first assess what tangible benefits,if any,hav come thru to solwezi and zambia as a whole.how many jobs are goin to be created?how much are they goin to put back into the community.what is the plan to reclaim this land after all the copper has been stripped,seein that grz is very keen on open cast minning that leaves huge craters in the ground…we are so happy about these investments but are we gettin just returns?

  27. Take note of pineapples which are going to worst. You have my support uncle RB. You are the best so far, next HH last KCobra (sanake in the grass)

  28. Ba No.21, what kind of Engineer are you. Everybody outside is interested in Zambia not because of RB being the president stanyoko, its because of the minerals we in our country and the good minerals prices.

  29. Gone are the days of Zambia ripping 90% profits from it’s own copper I at the least has come to accept this, all we can get is employment for the citizenry; the day we advance our manufacturing industries is the day we recapture our copper earnings. It’s up up to us the young generation to do this. It is great another mine opens, but what you seek we already have just implement our technocrats and put tax and law strangle holds on alcohol and Zambia shall flourish.

  30. Its amazing how Zambians have no logic thinking…
    If no jobs have been created for Zambians, who is working at Lumwana and Kansenshi? Do you count those Zambians as monkeys and not people?

    And No. 30 while every is interested in Zambia’s minerals due to the prices DULL people like you are watching waiting for government to give you handout. Am consulting for Lumwana and Kansanshi even while am based in Australia, that the kind of engineer i am and am making MONEY 

  31. Can someone tell me why local Tanzania’s, Kenya’s, South Africans, Angolans and even people in DRC and Zimbabwe are making money while Zambians are so DULL and only wait for government handouts? Is it something in the genes of Zambians?
    My answer is ifi mabwali and kapenta seems to affect the thinking of Zambians because you can’t have such a concentration of DULL people without a cause.

  32. Operations will commence in 2014 but how many YEARS ARE TAX FREE? I guess FIVE YEAR TAX holiday then inflate costs and pay as little TAX as they can. Mine more and pay peanuts, no SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY and the list is endless……….. The people always get a raw deal…

  33. No. 32 & 33 Engineer Australia – You are exibiting the effects of UBWALI and KAPENTA you ate years back. While we appreciate the work you’re doing in Australia, Alas your Engineering profession has not given you wisdom to use that massive knowledge. People back home are not DULL as you put it. Zambians are very intelligent and smart people but we have a very retrogressive government. The government give mines to foreigners without partnership with Zambians, Sell Finance Bank developed by a Zambian to foreigners, At lumwana mines all major contracts are given to foreigners, catering for that matter is done by a South African firm. Security is done by South Africans. While other countries are busy empowering their own citizens we’re busy promoting capital flight.

  34. Out of 35 comments on this blog, there’s only one Zambian Flag. This says alot to those who are interested in data. How many Zambia have access to internet? How well informed are our brothers in Zambia? How current is our information system? When the world is intergrating we’re still years back. These baby boomers in leadership have not embraced information technology. RB and his old ministers like taking eating too much and taking naps in their old people dipers while flies feast on their mucus and diper smell and wait for another day to fill their bellies. Unless we Zambians open our eyes and fight for our children and our childrens children future we shall always get a raw deal.

  35. Banda is just inviting more thieves. Just read the story below and see how Mopani has been defrauding Zambia. Bafikala balekele noku sponsor Mighty my team in the name of cost-cutting kanshi nifi kabwalala fye! Up theirs!

    Glencore, the world’s biggest private commodity trader, has been accused by a coalition of international NGOs of cheating the Zambian government of nearly $100-million in taxes by vastly inflating its operational costs at its Kitwe-based Mopani Copper Mining subsidiary.

  36. The accusations were first made by a coalition of non-governmental organisations comprising the Centre for Trade Policy and Development, Counter Balance, Eurodad, Oxfam and Tax Justice Network and were based on a leaked audit report at tax specialists of accounting firm Grant Thornton done at the Mopani Copper Mine in Kitwe. They rejected by the mine’s Swiss-based owners as based on incomplete information.

    But the rising wave of negative publicity appears to have delayed a planned public listing in February on the London Stock Exchange by the giant commodity trader, which controls 60% of the world’s zinc and 50% of its copper resources. Most of its operations are based in Africa and Eurasia.

  37. .Glencore, the world’s biggest private commodity trader, has been accused by a coalition of international NGOs of cheating the Zambian government of nearly $100-million in taxes by vastly inflating its operational costs at its Kitwe-based Mopani Copper Mining subsidiary.

    The accusations were first made by a coalition of non-governmental organisations comprising the Centre for Trade Policy and Development, Counter Balance, Eurodad, Oxfam and Tax Justice Network and were based on a leaked audit report at tax specialists of accounting firm Grant Thornton done at the Mopani Copper Mine in Kitwe. They rejected by the mine’s Swiss-based owners as based on incomplete information.

  38. But the rising wave of negative publicity appears to have delayed a planned public listing in February on the London Stock Exchange by the giant commodity trader, which controls 60% of the world’s zinc and 50% of its copper resources. Most of its operations are based in Africa and Eurasia. Last year Glencore reported a mind-boggling $175-billion in turnover, but very little of that remained in the producer countries.

    In the Zambian case Glencore had violated Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development guidelines by transferring profit out of the country by means of derivative trading, thereby avoiding about $100-million in taxes, the NGOs charged.

  39. The findings of the 2009 audit report, commissioned in late 2008 by the previous Zambian government, have been kept secret (with not a word mentioned about them by current Zambian Mines Minister Maxwell Mwale) until they were publicised by the NGO coalition in mid-February.

    Glencore protested that the report was based on incomplete and flawed assumptions that were incorrectly interpreted by the auditors, who, it claimed, failed to take into account that half the blister copper produced at Mopani came from the company’s other mines in the region, most notably nearby Katanga in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

  40. Even if that were the case, Glencore still has a lot of explaining to do. A copy of the report obtained by the Mail & Guardian showed that Mopani could not explain a $50-million discrepancy in its reported cost of labour for the period under review, but questions were also asked about its costing of fuel and mining costs, even at increased rates of production.

    Mopani also failed to maintain arms-length relations in selling copper produced by its Zambia-based operations to its Swiss-based mother company at prices well below spot market prices, a practice known as transfer pricing, the auditors found.

  41. There definitely was Nichekeleko to RB and Maxwell here. 100 million dollars must be paid back to us by these imperialist plunderers

  42. @paulo fesa , you must be living away from these mine to read base ur conclusions on the report . you just have to look at the infrastructure on the copperbelt . its a sorry sight .so to say you produce copper their is not different from saying you produce kandolo their.

  43. Ba Fumbi #44 I dont know what point you are making. The truth of the matter is that Paulo Fesa has given us more information about Mopani’s theft by fraud. This, apart from the dilapidation of the Copperbelt, is another matter altogether. Mopani should pay the Zambian people back that 100 million and be expelled from Zambia. We can get other mining companies to come in.

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