Operations at the Sinazongwe-based Chinese Collum Coal Mine (CCCM) in Southern Province have been suspended indefinitely, following two fatal accidents in which a Chinese National also lost his life.
Both Sinazongwe District Commisoner (DC) Mungoni Simulilika and the Chief Inspector for the Mine Billy Chewe confirmed the development to ZANIS on yesterday.
In a letter addressed to CCCM management, Mr. Chewe said that it was clear that the mine was no longer safe as the mining standards had deteriorated. He said the mine would only be pumping out the underground water.
“ Operations at the CCCM have been suspended with immediate effect as it is clear that your mine is no longer safe as this can be observed From the two fatal accidents you have recorded at your mine in less than one month,” Mr Chewe said in a letter to CCCM management.
The closure affects all the four shafts at the mine. He said the mine would only be reopened when the 34 safety conditions outlined to management are met.
Some of the conditions include the recruitment of trained personnel such as the shift boss, the appointment of a qualified Mine Manager and the provision of proper support structures in the tunnels.
A check by ZANIS at the scene of the accidents in the tunnels at Shaft Three where the Chinese national died revealed that there were no proper support structures in place.
The suspension of operations at the mine would affect about 200 employees and their clients such as Chilanga Cement, Konkola Copper Mine (KCM), Amanita Zambia, Ngombe Brewaries in Livingstone and some companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
ENDS/TN/PK/ZANIS
Nayena yakupita ewe!l-)
Please do something about the safety of our mines, this is becoming serious!
I we again ati!!
:o:o:o This is too much!!
Nince Chale
Thats too much now! Dont be too selfish
Anyway at least you have acted!! Close it and analyse the Cause properly!! Sad for the Chinese!!
Baby C, I’m not selling any fish.:d
They didnt realise it, until two souls were lost. Its not fair.
Nine Chale
Naughty!!! :d
Chinese,choncholi-choncho!
Yabaaa!
Nine Chale and Jamaco
Iam now suspecting you.Its like namulishamo ba LT.so they tell you when they are about to release letest news.
Hey Matworld-Nice guy!
How are you today down SA? Greetings!! LT belongs to US :d
It had to take two souls to act????????. Awe bane tefyo caba iyo!!!!!!!!!
Wonders will never end
In a letter addressed to CCCM management, Mr. Chewe said that it was clear that the mine was no longer safe as the mining standards had deteriorated.
Thats a lie! The Mine has never been safe fron day 1. workers are subjected to inhuman conditions. In fact, all chinese mines are not safe. We have lost a lot of lives due to the carelessness of these mine owners. The goverment is fully aware of this but they act as if nothing is wrong. We are so desparate for the so called investors such that we are welcoming any one calling themselves investors.My foot!
why are those responsible for closure
not being proactive until lives are lost.God values lives irrespective of race.
What is the price or cost of a single life? Does one asian country have any shopping mall where life is retailed?:(:(:((:((
Mwana Muchende
Here they don’t count a single loss of life. To them one death is a microscopic fraction of the population,,,,,
# 17 Mwana Muchende
TAKE THIS HEADLINE TO GAZA!!! 😕
Finally
I would not work in a Chinese run-mine even if I was to get 50,000 USD per month. Life is priceles>-)
Morning fellow bloggers!!
Is this the same mine where workers were working bare footed & those wearing patapatas were considered privileged?
These Chinese investments are never safe. Remember the Chambeshi explosion. They’re the same characters.
Our safety inspectors, if at all they’re there, are not doing a good job.
Major
Are you sure? $50,000 per month… i can work for a month
Gumu Gumu! Please spare my lungs. I am in tears with your comment
in # 22.
Chinese mines are known to uphold very poor safety standards. Even in China many lives are lost in similar coal mines. I wonder why the government can not enforce stringent measures not to target the chinese investors alone but all investors (if not infestors as some people call them) to demonstrate capacity to meet certain minimum safety standards before being issued with a mining licence. Mine inspections should also be periodic may be twice in a year to ascertain these safety standards. Failure to uphold these minimum standards should result in the revorkation of mining licence. This is very simple as long as licencing officers and inspectors are not corrupted as usual pa zed.
imwe we need a serious government. Ama chinese naba tu tola ata 8-|
MAJOR and BABY C!!
HI!! Dont make me laugh
Mossad -kgb
Hi! Can you honestly turn down a job wth a $$$$$$$$$50,000 at stake? Patali but…especially these days!
Brother Mossad-Kgb, I have heard that China is so over populated such that they export export labourers to countries like Zambia is this true? If I had the ability to know the exact content of this story I could have first observed a moment of silence for the over 40 victims of BGRIM disaster of 2006
#28, it is Zim$, LOL
#30 ESK
Obvious bak’amba ni Zim Dollar. Because it is the only money under which billionairs can actually starve
There should be a watchdog to licence the industry, monitor and, crucially, will have powers to investigate and bring to the courts those who break the law and endanger others, be it in the mining industry, or factory processing.
Safety first!
Life is vital can never be repleced. Its good to appreciate that life is now. Whatever it offers, little or much, life is now this day this hour when we are still breathing.
Baby C, 50 grand is a lot of money but your life?? Think about it again. I would rather work in an open pit mine.
BABY C,
$50 pin patali. I can work for 3month, resign and buy a HUMMER, lol..
Apart from the appaling conditions in their mines, chinese have no value for workers’ rights. A chinese boss can never be questioned…
#35
:d i can buy a jeep , ka change, Mark II!
Gazzie says, “rubbish” …… insnt this the same mine where the ex Minister wept instead of taking action. Hopeless woman instead of taking correcyive action, she decides to weep.
Now a lives have been lost thts when you want to act!
MALABISHI!
Baby C, how about some lunch pa Arcades, dont worry i will take care of Matworld and Nine Chale. Quick, make up your mind before these Blogaholics come back from lunch…..
This is way past due. Thank you
Hope they wont be operating behind your backs!!!!
The problem here is that in as much as the MSD try to enforce Safety, Heath and Enviromental matters the Chines are untouchale. Remember the BIGRIM accident? If it happened at other nationals mines heads would have rolled. Other mining houses especillay thoe of RSA origin spend quite alot of money on SHE and thats you dont see too many accidents. Ask any one working for the Chines they will confirm.
well its good they hav closed the mine and until the chinese make sure the mine regulations are followed..i know for them its nothing to loose even 100 people,coz utu utu bantu baane twalifulisha kuno mwe,bt government shld protect our people frm carelessness th@ can be caused by the chinese people,we dnt need the repeatation of bilgrim..i dnt even know wat our government has done abt th@ issue,bt here in china there was a issue abt melamine in the milk,and i can tell u the chinese government has nt taken th@ lightly..am told the families to the bilgrim explosion hav been left like the people who died didn’t matter.th@s very sad on the part of our government,because they need to protect us.
# 24 Tionge
It’s no laughing matter.Mwandi, I saw it with my own eyes on T.V. The provincial minister paid a surprise visit to a Chinese owned mine.Deep down in the hole, where these guys with bare tops, sweating,wearing shorts & bemudas & of course, bare-footed.They were busy hammering the earth with axes,shavels & hoes.
The best the minister could do was to cry & blast at the Chinese boss 4 not providing safety clothing to workers.
God have mercy on us! These ‘re the level of investors Zambia is able to attract from the far east.
Long over due. Did we need the death of a Chinese national to act? When the lady Minister broke down when she visited the same Mines and saw the poor conditions in which our people work – we thought she was being too emotional!!!
#29. It is true that China decongests its jails by sending its prisoners to other countries as expatriates. Zambeziland is one of the recipients of such.
LT. new story
Hey .. do we only have Chinese Nationals in Zambia?
😕
Headlines are full of Chinese this and Chinese that!!
The last Heading from LF was
“Chinese firm to hunt for copper despite resistance from local chief”
WHAT IS WRONG!!!
Zambia pls do not become a Home of Experiments!!! :o:o:o
THESE MEN ARE MEAN AND WICKED…IT SHUD NEVER BE REOPENED
Umugazebo
Ok! lets make it tomorrow! Wachedwa! I had ~:> +%%- . It was badly done!
it had to take away a life to realise that the CCCM was a hazardous place. at one time, Gladys Nyirongo visited the mine when she was still minister (cant remember the ministry). it was such a sad and sorry site, to see the miners bare footed, in tattered protective wear (i mean uwa pena bamubepesha). the miners were using if kunkubiti ifya yellow fima 20 litres to remove water from the mines. they had to go with ma 5 litre containers drinking water underground. when narrating their sufferings the miners were in tears! 🙁 and the Government allowed the minister to continue operating.
# 44 infact you are right it was Mrs Simango from Livingstone. Ana lila zoona but i almost shed a tear too.
These China men are the epitome of dangerous working envoronments. I do not see why it takes death to see how low their standards are. They are so many Chinese operations on the copperbelt that are simply accidents waiting to happen.
Perhaps its normalcy to them because their safety record in their mines in China is perhaps the worst in the world.
Ma China man, usually and always ni ba ‘INFESTORS’
“Zambia” – Some thing will never change.
We only want to act when the situation is out control or when there has been loss of life.
Why wait, take street vending for example, it took ages for the govt to act.
People right now are mining, “big time”,and pretending to be carrying out explorations. Explorations explorations for how long?
I shouldnt take a “genious” to fugure out whats going on.
*hundreds of tones of mineral ore a week going abroad as samples for testing.
Im even told that it now only takes 2 hours max for some to drive frm lsk to Solwezi. Apparently you’ll only see forigners driving at high speed in all sorts of latest cars when you use this short cut
LT NEW TOPIC PLEASE!
🙁
#45. Thanks alot. Bitter to accept reality though. I believe one of you bloggers is versatile in business enough to run the coal mine in a kill free way. A death of an employee through carelessness deducts an hour from mylife. Please save me from a early death. [-o<[-o<[-o<[-o<=d>=d>
I HAVE WORKED WITH CHINESE BEFORE, THEY DO NOT TAKE SAFETY SERIOUSLY. EVEN IF ACCIDENTS HAPPEN, ITS BETTER TO PUT SAFETY FIRST.
THINGS LIKE BUILDINGS, TRAINS AND BRIDGES COLLAPS IN CHINA, ACCIDENTS TO THEM IS NOTHING.
Umuchoncoli..useless with your Zambian govt [-([-([-(
This mine should have been closed along time ago, these are not the only 2 lives lost there, there have been many lost at the same mine and many complaints and awareness brought up just to fall on deaf ears. They have only acted now as a result of a chocholi dying, what about the many Zambians that shouldnt have died.
Good riddance. Let that be a lesson to you money-grabbing shoddy investors.
alice simango cried when she went to that mine as southern province minister. people thought she was just performing. if it had been a zambian who had kicked the bucket, it would have been business as usual, now that a muchocholi has died, the man has been closed. vukani ma zambian.
The Mine Safety Agency is the most corrupt government wing followed by the labour department.
this should have been done a long time ago. l-)l-)l-)l-)
MTSRIP. The Mine safety department and the ministry of mines management must be charged for genocide.They are only reacting to the results not the symptoms. That mine has previously been in the news for bad operating practice, now two lives carelessly lost.This is un-acceptable. Chinese & Russian mines rank the worst in safety records but we still dont monitor them here. Shame on Zambia Mine Safety Department & Ministry of Mines. Mwe fipuba mwe.U dont respect life, you must then be animals.To the Zambian Family sue for $2 Million Dollars compasation. No Compromise
When a government is corrupt and incompetent, even solutions under their noses will be ignored. Putting in place health and safety standards will not deter determined and honest investors. This is a hard and painful lesson Zambians are learning but to no avail.