Thursday, March 28, 2024

Zambia’s largest copper mine to construct power transmission line from Lusaka West to Solwezi

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First Quantum Minerals
First Quantum Minerals

FIRST Quantum Minerals Limited (FQML), Zambia’s largest copper mine, will this year start the construction of a US$230 million (KR1.22 billion) power transmission line from Lusaka West to Solwezi in North-Western Province for their latest mine, Sentinel at Kalumbila.

FQML Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Matt Pascall said in Solwezi that his company was in talks with Zesco over the 330 kilovolts transmission line that would cover a minimum distance of about 400km.

Mr Pascall said FQML had already agreed terms with Zesco who were just awaiting a go-ahead from the Zambia Public Procurement Agency (ZPPA) to get started and hoped the project quickly got approval.

“We are in talks with Zesco for the construction of a power transmission line from Lusaka West in Lusaka up to our new mine Sentinel here in Solwezi. This will cost at least $230 million and projected to be done by June next year.

“It’s really a race against time and we are anxiously waiting for Mr Cyprian Chitundu (Zesco MD) to call us and give us the good news. Otherwise, we are ready to start,” said Mr Pascall who was flanked by Kansanshi Mine assistant General Manager Alan Delaney.

FQML, the largest tax paying company to Government, were investing more than $2billion into Sentinel Mine at Kalumbila and would be Africa’s biggest copper mine with a capacity to produce well over 500 000 tonnes of copper concentrate per year .

FQML pays an average $1.5 million in taxes to Government everyday which comes to about 12 per cent of taxes government collects and more than 80 per cent of all taxes Government collect from mining companies.

Zambia is faced with a power deficit and has been pushed to new heights by the increase in the mining sector whose production levels were nearing record figures for Zambia.

And with Sentinel coming on board which would be Africa’s largest single copper project, the challenge is made bigger prompting FQML to fund the construction of a Zesco power line.

Mr Pascall said Zesco had a number of projects to increase Zambia’s power generation capacity with expansion to Kariba North Bank as well as the Kafue Lower Gorge and that once these two and a number of others like the Itezhi-tezhi coming on, the country would have sufficient power.

“But for now, we are the ones who need the power soonest, so we are ready to fund this project upfront. All the $230 million we shall give to do up the power line and we shall recover the money over a period of five years,” he said.

He said the power line would pass through and tap power from the Tata owned 120 megawatts Itezhi-tezhi hydro-power station currently under construction, to Kalumbila Minerals limited (KML) which should become operational in June 2014.

He said Zesco would ultimately own the power line after five years when the repayment programme was completed and that half of the money would be paid as cash while the other half would be recovered through bills for power supplied to the mine.

Asked if the delay by the ZPPA to give the project a go-ahead would jeopardise the mine, Mr Pascall said the firm would look for partial power supply from other sources while waiting for the new one to come alive.

He named the newly constructed 120km power line from Kansanshi to Kalumbila, some power from the Copperbelt Energy Company (CEC), Kabompo Gorge and the Maamba Thermal plant as some of the projects to that could in the meantime feed the Sentinel mine.

“We have faith in Zesco. We told them we want a good project with good tender procedures. We know that once the ZPPA approves, we shall have a good project. Zesco engineers are excellent, we have worked with them before and they are better than engineers from other countries,” he said.

19 COMMENTS

  1. Kansanshi is busy paying $1.5m in taxes per day whilst other mines busy evading tax like ba Mopani.

    This is not fair, what is PF doing about this they afre in Government now and mines still evading tax.

  2. Wonderful investment. ZESCO should also ensure that this power line does not just pass over people’s heads, but that they put step down transformers all along the 400Km stretch so farmers and villagers in those areas can tap electricity and develop their communities. Great initiative. We will pay you back ba First Quantum don’t worry.

  3. IF THIS POWER IS NOT YET TRANSPORTED THE WHY DO WE HAVE LOAD SHEDDING IN LUSAKA.
    THESE MINES ARE CONTROLLING WINDFALL TAX INTO THEIR WISHES

  4. “FQML pays an average $1.5 million in taxes to Government everyday which comes to about 12 per cent of taxes government collects and more than 80 per cent of all taxes Government collect from mining companies?”
    Wow! Zambia should be a rich nation if resources managed wisely but kaya mwe!

    • As this revenue is coming from a non-renewable source, my hope is that the government has a plan on invest some of these funds into long term projects that will sustain the economy well after these extractive metal industry’s life span comes to an end. Agriculture, tourism and some industrial base to process our raw products giving them some added value.

    • The $1.5m is not paid everyday its an approximate annual sum. As for the government, the priorities seem to lies somewhere completely different than the people that put them in power.

  5. This is what we were promised and the fruits have started to show up. This is what we call public private partnership at its best you can not wait for gorvernment to provide all the infrastructure even when private companies can compliment the efforts being made by the state. Its thumbs up to FQM for the project and just hope ZESCO will quicken the process because zambian people are in a hurry to develop the country and with the prioritie that HE the President has set Zambia is destined for prosperity.

  6. Start processing the raw resource in Zambia and export finished products abroad. Get the technology in Zambia and plenty Zambians will be employed and poverty will be a thing of the past. Common guys its as easy as that! Lets make the right decisions now.

  7. IF WE TAKE OUT SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, WE HAVE 22 DAYS IN A MONTH JUST TO BE FAIR. MUTIPLY BY 1.5 MILLION PER DAY, ARE WE MAKING $33 MILLION IN A MONTH FROM ONE MINE? OR $396 MILLION /YR? …THIS IS GOOD MONEY CONSIDERING THAT WE HAVE OVER 10 GIANT MINING COMPANIES IN ZM.

  8. THESE PROJECTS ARE JUST STORIES.WE HAVE A LOT OF WATER FALLS IN NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCE.WHY CAN’T WE INVEST IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF A HYDRO IN THE PROVINCE SUCH THAT THE PROVINCE HAS ITS OWN SOURCE OF POWER?
    LOOK AT THE VOLTAGE IN KASEMPA? IT IS WORKING TO PEOPLES EXPECTATIONS?
    NORTH-WESTERN PRVINCE TRADITIONAL LEADERS,MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS WHERE ARE YOU TO MAKE YOUR VOICES HEAD?
    THE BEST IS TO HAVE OUR OWN HYDRO POWER STATION AND WE HAVE OUR MINERALS,OUR FERTILE LAND AND GOOD RAINS SO THAT WHEN WE BECOME A FEDERAL STATE WE HAVE EVERYTHING NOT CONNECTING US FROM 400 KMS WHEN WE CAN GENERATE OUR OWN POWER FROM THE BEATIFUL WATER FALLS WE HAVE.

    AND THE BILLIONS FROM THESE MINES WHERE ARE GOING WHEN THE MAIN STATION AT SOLWEZI IS LIKE IN SUDAN.CHIEF MULEMENA?

  9. These are wonderful ventures for Zambia, a country with only 13 million pipo. And unless we do it ourselves and plan properly, our children and their children’s children will reap the results of our hard work. In Spain recently, reports are that 6 million pipo don’t have work. Portuguese nationals too are trekking back to its former colonies; Angola, Mozambique etc., to look for work. The British too have same problems, they are coming back to Zambia en-mass.

    Unless we Guard Zambia jealously this time round, we will no doubt lose our mother land to foreigners. This is the time to put Zambia first otherwise, this in-fighting we have with PF/UDNP/MMD etc, will wreck Zambia into pieces. Remember always, we have ONLY ZAMBIA, others have elsewhere to go when Zambia burns and in tumoil.

  10. My question for this sleepy ZESCO MD is why can’t his company undertake the whole project? What is US$230 million when they stand to make more from tariffs alone in the long term..if FQM build it they will get a discount somewhere…

  11. Government need to increase their stake in these mines or else these chaps will just leave us with big holes in the ground. North Western wealth is enough to feed the whole country but the province still remains under developed with it’s wealth diverted to other parts of the country. These chaps should be involved in major infrastructure development unconditionally. Draining power from Lusaka to be used in the mine will only mean more load-shedding for Lusaka residents.

  12. the gorvement must be fair to north western pronvice,they are developing other pronvices they are leaving a pronvice where money is coming,if you go to lumwana their is a hosipital they have completed, it as stayed for about two years without opening it due to electricity and the population is becoming high no hosipitals and schools.

  13. I wish the PF government will do something about the state of solwezi, because it is a shame to see what Solwezi looks like today and yet so much wealth is coming from there! The road network is pathetic!

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