Kitwe magistrate court has granted bail to two Chinese nationals who were arrested over the weekend for being in possession of over 10, 000 tonnes of copper ore. The duo had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Li Yuan and Cao Feng who took plea through an interpreter Wanty Tint, an accountant at Tuner Construction Company, appeared for mention today before magistrate Prosper Mwila.
Yuan aged 32 and Feng 42 both of Kitwe ’s industrial area, who are miners at Tontnan mining company, are charged with one count of failing to account for being in possession of property obtained and suspected to have been stolen contrary to section 319 of the penal code chapter 87 of the laws of Zambia .
The particulars of the offence are that Yuan and Feng on May 7, 2011 in Kitwe jointly and whilst together were unlawfully found in possession of 10, 420 tones of copper ore at Turner construction company in the industrial area.
Magistrate Mwila however granted a bail of K30 million each with two working sureties of K10 million each in their own recognisance and of retraceable residence within Kitwe .The court also ordered that the two surrender their passports and should not travel out of Kitwe district without the authority of the court.
The Chinese nationals are represented by G. Kaladanyas of Douglas and Partners while the anti copper theft prosecutor Collins Daka is representing the state.
The duo are expected to appear for mention and fixing of trial date on May 20, 2011
Police in Kitwe arrested the two foreign nationals over the weekend at Turner Construction Company in the city’s industrial area.
price of copper today is $9000 per ton so that by 10 000 tons = $90 000. No wonder there is the rise and rise of Jerabos on the copperbelt and it seems the Chinese have also jumped on the bandwagon or it it them that have introduced copper theft on the copper belt and Jerobos are just their face or stooges?
Maths is very important
lol yeah your math is off here buddy!
Our students say that bail should have been denied.
This is serious case these people must be sent to jail not less than 30 years because are here in Africa to take our welth. From Mbeya Tanzania
Cho-choli. How come law is being unfair to indigenous Zambians? A Zambian cannot be given bail over such a big case! This is not fair.
9,000 multiply by 10,000 gives 90,000,000US$ only for the two cho-cholis
#1 Observer: your maths is wrong. # 5 your correction is right but your logic or understanding is totally off. The two were caught with copper ore and not pure copper. If my memory serves me right (if there is a technocrat please correct me), Zambian ores are predominantly malachite which contains around 25% copper. If the extraction process is efficient, it would leave the two with copper worth just under $25 million assuming the price is $9000/ ton. It is still a colossal amount of money for two Chinese peasants to share!!!!!
OMG yes my maths was wrong , Ama ma ine !!! Â That is indeed a lot of money for two people and that bailout fee is a joke. And usually when somebody is caught, it is usually on their 10th crime. These tu ma guys have bucks. No wonder they are all over the copperbelt
#6 Kwindi Kodjo: A pupil from the K.K. era.Thanx. Surely if COPPER ORE was going for $9000 per tonne,Zed would have been the richest country on earth.
Copper content would on average be closer to 3% though I have heard stories of outliers (with higher content) in the North Western Province and Chililabombwe areas…
hang them by their balls!
Hahahahahahahahaha, what the Zambian government and Zambians tend to forget is that everyone in the world is capable of being a thief or criminal. This is some sad but funny stuff.
Whats he doin in the bush. is he sheeting. Time you work up zambia will be shell.
At the end of the day, money speaks. Right?
This will just be handled like the shooting incident.
The shooting incident is even worse than this!
No1, 5 and 6, if wishes were horses even full would ride…..
Tons = 10,000
Average grade 3% – 5% (5% is even too high for Zambian copper ore)
Copper content (10,000 x 3%) = 300 tons of copper
Copper recovery (90%) = 270 tons final recovered copper
Current copper price (LME) Â US$8800 per ton
Revenue = (270 x 8800) = US$ 237,600
I hope that makes sense ……..
if wishes were horses even fools would ride….
No. 8 Â thank you… KCM mines 3 million tons of copper ore per year….
If copper ore was US$9000 per ton, they are making
US$27 billion…
If that was the case Zambia would be heaven…
Wish full thinking…. shows the quality of bloggers in Zambia. No wonder people think mines make billions
Ba engineer 16, 17, 18. Thanks for the clarification. You are a technocrat in this field so no need to display your arrogance. Simply correct us. Remember some of us were drawing from our very old knowledge from KK’s social studies as # 8 puts it.
No.16 you have just made an engineering disaster!!! Your last calculation for revenue is wrong. One zero is missing. 270×8800 = US$2,376,000.
Otherwise your reasoning and recovery calculation is fine.
ha ha ha engineering disaster abena PVK muli baka dobo sana mwansekesa.
Ba LT if you have no picture for your story, just present the story like that. It is unethical to provide an irrelevant picture to a story. At the same time it is illegal to have a picture of someone else when you are reporting that someone else has committed a crime. That Chinese man you have on top does not add to the story. He just subtracts. Do your Journalism courses before starting publications such as Lusaka Times! You are embarrassing usm
Ba LT please take note of #20. Iam a journalist 2!
#16 good help to #1.When we are making calculations we don’t use ore tons ,we use contained copper.To get this we need to multiply the ore tons by the grade.
I HAVE ALWAYS SAID THAT THE CHINESE ARE NOT GENUINE INVESTERS IN ZAMBIA.THEY ARE MOSTLY KABWALALAS LIKE THESE 2.I WONDER HOW THE COURT IN KITWE HAS GIVEN THEM BOND BECAUSE IF THESE GUYS WERE BLACK ZAMBIANS THEY WOULD NEVER HAVE GOT THE BAIL GRANTED TO THEM..THIS RESULTS IN 2 DIFFERENT TYPES OF JUSTICE IN ZAMBIA. THESE 2 THIEVES SHOULD ROT IN ZAMBIAN PRISON FOR ATLEAST 25 YEARS WITH HARD LABOUR AND AFTER SERVING THERE SENTANCE THEY SHOULD BE DEPORTED STRAIGHT TO BEIJING OR SHANGHAI.
No 23. From my information, a number of Zambians have been caught stealing copper. Lets not make a pure case of people stealing in to a nationality or racial issue. Let the law take its course.
#25.thats correct.we need to strengthen our laws to curb such vices some of these so called investors are infestors they what to leave our country bankrupt.With thi s corrupt regime of ours us people ,the steak holds must raise to the challenge.Lets all call for a regime change tom protect our natural wealth RB and his minions have failed us.VIVA PATRIOTIC FRONT FOR REAL CHANGE.
No 20 thanks for the correction in fact its….
Tons = 10,000Average grade 3% – 5% (5% is even too high for Zambian copper ore)Copper content (10,000 x 3%) = 300 tons of copperCopper recovery (90%) = 270 tons final recovered copperCurrent copper price (LME)  US$8800 per tonRevenue = (270 x 8800) = US$ 2,376,000
Operating cost ( approx  60 – 70%) of revenue
Net income US$ 1 425 600
Tax ( 40% not sure in Zambia) US$570,240
Cashflow ( 1 425 600 – 570,240) = US$855, 360
Net value to each Chinese  US$427,680
Nice to see some metallurgy and recovery calculatons going down there for once pips are blogging sense
Engineer (Australia),
Can you please calculate for me the ball park figure for 600,000 tonnes of copper all including residuals (which are I understand are negligible) i.e. gold, silver etc.
The Engineer (Australia) – I can undertand why you left Zambia. You’re a real thinker and Zambia cannot appreciate your brains. All the best in the diaspora-please educate your children and enjoy the best of the 1st world.