Thursday, April 25, 2024

Zambezi Resources promises to build the cleanest, greenest and safest copper mine ever built in the Lower Zambezi

Share

The Unspoilt Lower Zambezi National Park
The Unspoilt Lower Zambezi National Park- however new mine coming soon

Mining company to generate local jobs and improve livelihoods

Exploration and mining company Zambezi Resources has pledged to work with local communities and environmentalists to ensure the conservation of the Lower Zambezi National Park and development of the “cleanest, greenest and safest copper mine ever built”.

The company, which has been granted a mining licence by the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Water Development, plans to create an initial 500 jobs for people living in the surrounding area and is working with traditional leaders, who are supportive of the project, to improve livelihoods and bring economic development to the area.

“Kangaluwi Copper Project will be the cleanest, greenest and safest copper mine ever built, probably anywhere in the world, applying the world’s best practices and technology,” said Zambezi Resources Chairman David Vilensky.

Addressing the concerns of environmentalists, he added: “Zambezi Resources is a responsible Australian company and understands the importance of conserving the environment, particularly in a sensitive area such as the Lower Zambezi National Park. We share the concerns of those who have so vocally expressed their opposition to the project.”

“For this reason, we are keen to engage with local environmentalists to ensure we can achieve a win-win situation: bringing jobs and prosperity to local communities while protecting – and indeed enhancing – the flora and fauna of the area.”

The Lower Zambezi National Park covers an area of 4,092 square kilometres (409,200 hectares), of which the total area covered by the mining licence is 245 square kilometres (24,500 hectares), or less than 6 percent of the total park area, with the open pit mine footprint covering 11 square kilometres (1,000 hectares) or 0.3 percent of the park area.

The mine site is in a remote, inaccessible and sparse part of the park, on the upper escarpment, more than 35 kilometres away from the Zambezi River, with no surface water and consequently very few animals.

Zambezi Resources has listened carefully to the concerns raised by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) about the project, and has worked diligently to address these issues in order to minimise the environmental impact of the mine.

The construction and development of the mine is subject to strict conditions issued by ZEMA to ensure total compliance with the objectives of the Environment Management Act of 2011 which will be monitored and supervised by ZEMA.

In particular, cutting edge technology has been introduced to further minimise the risks to the environment, particularly in the use of a dry stacked tailings technology to address original concerns over possible pollution from a tailings dam, which will not now be used.

Mr Vilensky complimented the Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection for overturning the ZEMA rejection of the company’s Environmental Impact Study (EIS) and said: “The Zambian government has allowed the Kangaluwi Copper Project to proceed within the national park as part of its revised Mineral Resources Development Policy, which seeks to strike a fair balance between the benefits of mining and the protection of the environment and wildlife conservation, provided its policies and laws are respected ad adhered to and such investments will create employment opportunities for ordinary Zambians.”

The site of Zambezi Resources' Kangaluwi Copper Project in the Lower Zambezi National Park.
The site of Zambezi Resources’ Kangaluwi Copper Project in the Lower Zambezi National Park.

127 COMMENTS

  1. Who are you kidding? There has never been and will never be a win-win situation between citizens and foreign mine owners/investors. It is all a money thing.

    • A promise is a Comfort to a fool..Look at how many promises pf made and tell me how many were/have been fooled??????????????

    • which tunyoni are you trying kill with one stone?… thats what all these miining companies say, sweet things which desperate africans want to hear but they do the opposite

    • Ok so why are people making noise about this issue, I think this article has highlighted quite a number of concerns which have solutions to. My question is who then is protesting.? Clearly the mine owners have a backing of local people and local leaders – in a nutshell those protesting are bound to fail.

      I think they are missing the point.

    • I have seen deers, rabbits, even a bear around our apartments, near the shopping malls. And I saw fish in rivers and canals in city of Amsterdam.

    • @Nostradums
      we taking about minning,,, heavy duty noisy digging and blasting, am sure those rabbits, deers will love it!!!

      By the way where were you on saturday, you missed the wedding of kazimu Sata.. i was in attendance i even met president chikwanda.. sata mulenga your consin was shocked that you missed the wedding like his own father

    • These foreign investors look at us as primitive. Anderhaps we give them reason to with the “Yes Bwana” mentality together with “Musungu anikonde” attitude. How many of the so called investors have “Promised” Zambians real business and employment opportunities and yet fill their payrolls with their nationals pretending to be “expertriate” skills? The law they sign to uplift Zambians in business means nothing unless you own a company for cleaning services. This is yet another lie and obviously Govt will fall for it….

    • We need more data here!
      No one is telling us the size of this cursed deposit, what the life of this cursed mine is, etc. talking 500 jobs is a sick joke!
      It’s not worth the trouble.
      We should rather concentrate on Tourism which offers infinite possibilities!

    • Clean pollution is a truly false premise. Two oxymorons in one sentence. I’ll go with ‘truly false’ over ‘clean pollution’. Looks like the PR campaign has begun for the mining company. How much in true figures does anyone other than the company, JP Morgan et al and recipients of backhanders gain? Telling the animals to piss off so they can blow a hole in the ground to put money in to their vaults supported by sweet lies of how no one will even know they are there coz they’ll be clean and green, is hilarious. Keep talking though. I can’t wait for the figures coz that is where one will see the true cost of being screwed with the eyes wide open.

    • @Action man

      Don’t think UK has no copper or gold . It has it in abundance but because of huge environmental risks involved apart from cost of production, they choose to come and mine it Africa and other poor countries which do not care much about safety and environmental issues.

    • Folks

      The UK , USA, Russia and China have launched a massive multi-billion project to extract the minerals from the oceans using giant robots. So very soon they will slash the price of copper and other minerals to the detriment of our mining dependant economies.

      If we do not embark on serious manufacturing; making things like machines to make other machines and technical products then our country’s economies will slide back to pre-colonial era because mining will no longer be profitable.

    • I cant help questioning ……Will they really be mining copper??? seems like nice decoy I must say. Im thinking more like……… dredging the Zambezi river itself for gold??? Another question…. Could this be the same group chucked out of Ghana for illegal Gold dredging in the country’s rivers why do you think they chose lower Zambezi? Meanwhile all those depending on the river for the water are in for seriously polluted drinking water and its effects.

    • Malabishi. Green kwisa! Zambia is our house, you can’t come and start telling us how to arrange our furniture, mmxxxx.

    • You are right Zozi. For Zambia mining is a curse. Vilensky is a liar; this article is a disgraceful bit of PR speak for him. Vuga Zambia

    • Come to find out, the majority of those opposing this have no clue what the major deal really is. The powerball is in the fact that Valentine Chitalu brought this up because he sits on the Zambezi Resource Board as a director.

      There are some individuals with great intelligence on this issue and they just want to frustrate the efforts of a fellow Zambian. When is this nonsense going to end? Why do we like pulling each other down? Some people are just sooooooo envious that a fellow Zambian has pulled this one off and he is about to be a billionaire should this mine be allowed to move ahead as planned.

    • Reminds me of the same mentality that brought Clive Chirwa to his knees. I say, let the mine go ahead, these God forsaken lower Zambezi plains needs real economic activities and I would like to see Valentine Chitalu as the first Zambian on the Forbes List of billionaires next year.

      Kwati ni mbwa …. blah blah blah blah, nothing concrete just talking for the sake of it!!! Bushe mwe bena Zambia, mwalibelela ukucula nangu shani. Kwati citipu!!! Whenever something good comes your way the first thing you see are negatives.

      Chitalu is one of the smartest Zambians I know and I am proud that he is spearheading this behind the scenes. If half of the critics here would work just an eighth of the time they spend arguing here, they too would be millionaires.

      This is a good thing!!! Let’s…

    • meant to say “… these God forsaken lower Zambezi plains NEED real economic activities … Whenever something good comes your way, ONE OF the first things you see are negatives.”

    • Ba BR Mumba Sr, its ok for a anyone to pull a lucrative deal and become rich but its one thing to do it with disregard to the natives of the area. Some advice abakalamba; 1. Such ventures should commence with consultations from the grassroot ie .
      the traditional leaders, councilors, MPs DC? and provincial leadership.
      2. Accountability of how many pipo, households will be affected, and registration of the same
      3. Take into account present challenges faced by communities and establish direct assistance to be availabbe to them as at or when the project is approved.
      4. Employment/training opportutinites for community and not “general local jobs”
      The list goes on……..
      Tata risk assessment of such ventures requires extensive research and by all means involvement of locals.

    • “The survival of our wildlife is a matter of grave concern to all of us in Africa. These wild creatures amid the wild places they inhabit are not only important as a source of wonder and inspiration, but are an integral part of our natural resources and our future livelihood and well being.
      In accepting the trusteeship of our wildlife we solemnly declare that we will do everything in our power to make sure that our children’s grand-children will be able to enjoy this rich and precious inheritance.
      The conservation of wildlife and wild places calls for specialist knowledge, trained manpower and money, and we look to other nations to co-operate with us in this important task – the
      [Cont’d]

    • success or failure of which not only affects the continent of Africa but the rest of the world as well.”

      Julius K. Nyerere, Arusha Manifesto, 1961

  2. Crap ! That mine shouldn’t see the light of the day.I’m still bitter with minister Kalaba who approved this nonsense.Let us try by all means to protect our animals in national parks.No amount of sugarcoating will change the fact that this mine idea in lower Zambezi is and will remain a terrible mistake.

    • I have seen deers, rabbits, even a bear around our apartments, near the shopping malls. And I saw fish in rivers and canals in city of Amsterdam.

    • Saulosi. I like your objectivity on issues. You could be the only cadre in PF who looks at thing as they are. Not first look at who has said it then you find reasons to justify.

    • This is so wrong. Let us not allow our natural resources to be exploited and have ourselves exposed to more pollution. Let this company go try mining in the Austalian natural reserves then come to us. Why is is it okay to do it in Africa and not elsewhere? We do value our wildlife too. Lets not allow the natural things of our country to be disturbed all because of money. The failed pollution management of Kabwe and other mining towns should have us strongly oppose more exposure without first solving the existing cases.

    • Zambians not benefiting frm mines is not the investers fault they just follow wat uv laid down for them so I dnt know why u blame the same fools objecting the mine are the ones who will rush to Luangwa to buy plots coz they kno its now a mining town so members of the public these enviromentalists are not against the mine they jst want to show those funding them that they are working for them to receive more cash for plots in Chalala

    • ..imwe sure! And what will they do this big hole they will dig in the ground once the copper is depleted?

  3. Mxxxh! It’s even commending the minister! Well Aussie in case you don’t know – “you have the right to remain silent anything you say can and will be used against you”

  4. Exclusive of all applicable taxes, including windfall tax, this chi mine must be made to allocate not less than five percent of annual earnings to environmental control and wildlife conservation in the area.

    Thats if govt can grow big enough balls.

    • They investors will certainly say yes to that proposal but will be selling the copper to their subsidiaries at low prices via transfer pricing and forever declaring losses….who would have thought KCM was the most profitable subsidiary company in the Vandatta Group after the lies they were telling us about high costs in Zambia.

  5. crap!!!
    i don’t think an open pit mine can be the cleanest. 500 jobs will be created but question is what kind of job will the local people get? because open pit mine uses machinery mainly. for how long will these benefits last? when do we start seeing the benefits?. you see, this what differentiates us from whites because i don’t think this can happen in Australia or an other European countries. forest of our natural forest worldwide have been cleared due to increase in agriculture practices, mining activities and infrastructure development and hence posing lots of negative impacts on our environment, global warming , climate change and many more. i strongly oppose to this move… this will bring a lot of negative impacts, talk of noise pollution to animal, water pollution in the…

  6. Way to go Zambezi Resources. Those yapping have jobs, cars, wives and houses. Us on the other hand have no jobs. For how long are we going to wait for the jobs? Those environmentalists, can you offer jobs to these youths who have been waiting for decades? Do you want them to turn into robbers or thieves? Money was spent to explore that area so let them dig out what they spent the money for. Why allowing them to explore when the MMD knew that it is the national park. Go hang yourselves. As for me, i have no job and i want to work, contribute to my country and marry. Some of you yapping against the mines are married and have tested women. This is because you have a job and can entice a lady. Give me a break

    • What jobs? You never learn do you….are you telling me that FQM in North western province is training local villagers on how to operate earthmovers. They are the selfsame people who were hiring from RSA and saying Zambia hasn’t got the skilled manpower….think think!
      Wake up!!

    • Muzungu Wanga Anikonde Syndrome!
      Zambians are very divided people and lack unity of purpose!
      No wonder it’s resources go only to benefit foreigners!

    • @Dim Wit, not a Muzungu syndrome. Dim wit give those youths jobs. You on the other hand has a job and a fat belly. Millions don’t. Besides drilling will still continue and the life span of this mine might exceed even 40 years. Even your kids will benefit. I don’t condemn Zambezi Resources for working so hard to find a resource. 1) They were allowed by the GRZ to explore in the Lower Zambezi. So what did you expect them to do after the discovery? Just leave it. Gosh you must be joking 2) They spent hundreds of billions of kwacha in nexploration and that cannot just go in water. 3) Technology has advanced, tourism and Mining can co-exist. I love tourism and nature but I also love mining because mining in Zambia is almost 100 times more in terms of revenue contribution in Zambia.

    • Too good to be true. It is like listening to Michael Sata talking about his infamous ninety days lies. Miners owners are all hypocrites.

  7. Zambia for sell, come come steal our cooper, polute our enviroment and kill our wild life, one more thing, you can take all the profit to our country..

  8. Only a fo@l would swallow this, where on earth is there a clean openpit mine and this is located right in the centre of the national park..moreover Zambia hasn’t got the manpower nor knowhow monitor all this.
    Promises are like manifestos they’re worthless.

    • Ka Jay jay, you surprise me! Everything you, you know silly man. Football, you are an expert, politics you are an expert, business you are an expert, science, you are an expert, mining you are an expert, education you are an expert, agriculture, you are an expert, You such an illusionist. Such people have no direction. You the kind of people who counts the number of pieces of meat in a pot. Eishhhh. People are fed up of you. If anything your yapping is making you preferred candidate HH or whoever to be at the same level as you. Give us a break and disappear even for a week.

    • I take that as a compliment thank you very much…better have a million Jay Jays than docile gullible individuals like yourself who pretend all is well.
      Wake up and have a good day!!

  9. For those of you who are adults, this is like a guy telling a girls that he’ll “only put his dick head inside” he won’t shaft the whole dick inside.

    If you believe them then you’re about to get fuuuuuucked!

  10. The only thing missing from Mr. Vilensky’s promises is that his company will perform these wonders in 90-days.

    Except as “Hon” Kambwili has gone on record to say, the 90-day line was just a campaign gimmick to get elected….. so in fact Vilensky’s promises do sound much the same as those of his PF bedfellows.

    Make promises today and excuses later – right, ba Vilensky?

  11. Double, triple, quadruple check the ministers phone, fax, email and that of all his family for suspicious new deposits and unexplained aquisitions. Possible, check the banks in China, Honk Kong, Mauritius, Bahamas and other “don’t ask-dont tell” joints too. Probably the muther focker has been greased like an axle.

    We all know how dodgy these mining houses are. They’ll be shipping out concentrate like Lumwana in the name of “samples” and before you know it they’ll have sold 30 Mtonnes of gold and uranium from under our very noses.

    All we’ll have to show for it is a huge hole in the ground and a “fvck you, arse holes!”, form the mine owners. Some ***** in GRZ will fart about 1000 jobs being created.

    Why not just spread your mama’s legs and hold her down and ask the…

  12. PF at work. Come 2016 MCS will amase 70% of presidencial votes while the u-5 will share the rest 30% equally with other parties.

    • You own cup of tea Thandi. PF has lost your vote but me on the other with my sisters and brothers have reserved and gained a vote for PF. I never voted for PF but this time around I will. Oh yes I will. So PF has gained more. Simple arithmetic.

  13. A promise is a Comfort to a F.0.0.L.Look at how many promises pf made and tell me how many were/have been fooled??????????????

  14. Gentlemen and ladies, lets look at this situation with an open mind! The fact that Zambians are busy sleeping instead of mining there own backyards is a source of concern. You Chaps are to blame. Too much mooba and very little ideas. Let those that have ideas explore them! Besides we now live in a global village; pack your bags and try something new, you might just succeed!

    Im happy these guys have been given a go ahead! Learn from your mistakes and stop sleeping!!!!!!!!!! Gain the much needed knowledge then have your say rather than talk child-like! PF ni Zeeeeeeeeeeee!!

  15. The cheapest talk of the year 2014!!! No foreign investor from America, Europe, Asia, Australia comes to Africa to setup clean, safe, green industries. Not even one will ever do that. Our govt fears investors to the bone such that the investors do extra activities with impunity, while the govt watches in fear. We have a million examples with the many chinese in Zambia.

  16. A simple Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) of this Mining project done by a simple undergraduate student of economics would show how impossible it is to setup the cleanest, greenest and safest copper mine in Zambia. That is impossible. It would be possible if only the mining company would spend all its profits on clean, green and safe mining! That means no cent leaves Zambia, but who can do that!

    • Just a quick browse through the list of shareholders and one would certainly conclude that it is highly unlikely especially in Africa.

    • @Jay Jay, you are right! Which investor with 100% ownership of a project cares for the local population or economy? And when Things get bad later on in future, our children would be wrong to point Fingers at “Abasungu” saying they destroyed our country. Our children should go to our graves and shout at us in our graves: “why did you destroy the country?”

  17. If they are serious let then take over the mines in Mufurila and leave our parks alone. Also request from your money which you gave as a kick back to the unnamed official from FP party.

  18. I have followed your arguments above and they are quite interesting. ‘ZOZI-A-ZOZI’ I like your sentiments and they are very genuine but my question is; how different are foreign mining companies to foreign camp/lodge owners currently (mis)managing our national parks? Ok assuming mining does not go ahead in this beautiful park, what benefit is it to the people of Zambia; lets narrow down to the native people of Chiawa? Jobs? How many quality jobs are Zambians enjoying in these camps but laborers whose contracts are renewed each year even when these tour operators market their companies on long term. Of what benefit is a giant cane rat in the bush to a starving villager? Does it make economic sense to preach conservation when my own people don’t see benefits from tourism? “Oh what a…

    • by the way locals only benefit the least from such undertaking, as the high paying jobs will still be taken by those from big towns in the name of accounts, administrators, engineers and the like. The locals do not qualify for the jobs in question. Recall that mining has been going on for years on the belt, ask if the true locals (Lambas) are benefiting that much? We also need to start realizing that we cannot afford to behave like we are the last generation therefore we exploit every resource in our life time, that is wrong. we already are failing to benefit maximally from the existing mines for various reasons. All that is need to is to re-engineer our taxes and ensure to benefit more from the existing mines

  19. The answer still remains a very big NO! They will deplete the park and will NEVER EVER restore it to its original status…. we are talking mining here and those poor animals will not bear the heavy duty machinery, pollution to name just two! Tell those muzungus to go and built their “state of the art mines” in the Copperbelt not in the park…twakana, twakana…

  20. LT congrats for you effort to be balanced by publishing ZRL views. Please let the LOCAL PEOPLE of LUANGWA ALSO have a say and for that matter decide the fate of their customary land/heritage. There are 2 senior chief s in Luangwa ( their royal highnesses Mphuka and Mburuma), hundreds of headmen and indeed a lot of village folk, men, women and the youth. In my view the should be in a better situation to decide what is good for them not any smart phone wielding Lusaka based environmentalist, Zambezi Resources, bloggers abroad and at home nor some learned judge. Why are these key stakeholders blacked out? LT please bring us their (local people) views!

  21. we have heard that before? Only a fool would fall for such crap? The whiteman came with the bible and ended up owning our land? This time he has come back under a different name…Investor….Cry My beloved country…Lord have mercy on our poor souls.

  22. I dissapointed that Politicians have a voice, Zambezi Resources has a voice, animals and trees have a voice through environmentalists BUT LOCAL PEOPLE HAVE NONE. Its a sham!

    • @Jay Jay: Take it easy before you suffer from some stress/panic related stroke. Icalo tacitalala ngamusunga! Why do you want ZEMA to represent village folk. Is that what is in their mandate? Aren’t villagers also people who should speak for themselves? Without the intially AngloAmerican &later Zambian copper mines and KK’s free education that came therefrom most zambians here would be miserable villagers in some remote corner of Zambia. I shudder to think how poor the country would be without copper! We are a copper country albeit imperfect, we have mismanaged the industry. I pray that the Luangwa local people will claim for some % royalty that should be ploughed into their chiefdoms. You see I worry more about the poor voiceless village folk that you to impose your ZEMA on! Cheers

    • Enlighten me! Ooh that’s a suprise! See how I have I have enlighthened you on your rather unresearched/misinformed position viz a viz Tanzania’s resource endowments on the Injunction against Mining in Lower Zambezi successfully lodged at the High Court article, post 8.2 just here on LT!
      Cheers!

    • This is not a hand bagging brawling session….how old are you? Tanzania only recently discovered her natural resources and the uranium mine in question only takes up 0.7% space of the National Park (not in the centre) and contributes $250m royalties a year to that nation from just one single mine.

    • Again this is the reason why Tanzania generates more forex from the tourism sector than Zambia is that it has never had to rely on other sectors like mining in the past apart from agriculture.

      PS. Read more about The Great Julius Ngwrere’s literature about Sustainable Tourism to get a better understanding.

  23. continued… “Oh what a beautiful bird…” an American tourist on sighting a guinea fowl. And yet my uncle has set traps to catch a guinea fowl in order to raise money to buy 500 grams of sea salt! And you say we should conserve the guinea fowl? What economic sense does it make to the natives of Chief Chiawa? Have they been consulted not blackmailed by ‘aid’?

  24. Loyal don’t trust the whiteman, you are looking at sugar coated statements like jobs
    when that whiteman comes he will rape your resources and treat your land like a piece of gabbage, he doesnt consider Africans smart just like he single handedly fooled that dull minister, He is not taking that waste to australia but leaving it with us
    mess up our echo system, he will make 500% profit while paying us the lowest wages in the world, God will sustains us no to these cheap jobs and exploitation.

  25. Wat a joke, these harvestorz thnk that we ar dull, were hv u seen a green,safest mine wthout polution, pipo here coperbelt all the riverz ar poluted, muf it iz worst.kalaba save yo pipo plz than yo stomach

  26. Good afternoon

    This can never happen. The best they can do is look for copper elsewhere and use the profits to make Lower Zambezi the cleanest, greenest and safest national park in the world.

    Investors just want to see returns and so for them, money comes first. No investor has ever gone out of his way and to put the country in which they invest first. It is up to Zambians to say “NO, this time we will put our country first!”

    • Make Lower Zambezi the cleanest, greenest and safest national park in the world.and bring back the black rhinoceroses which died out around the time the national park was declared, in 1983.

  27. Caught red-handed. Just pack-up and go back to Australia. We love our Lower Zambezi. Your Australia is big enough for you to do all the mining that you want to do there.

    • Not just Africa, but the face of the whole earth bears the scars of human greed. It’s a sad situation. Nevertheless, it is not too late for Africans to gang up, put up resistance and change the status quo. For the sake of the future generations…

  28. Lets be realistic especailly @Nsefu.
    Europeans or White guys ve GREATER INSIGHT whn analysisng issues.

    “Look at the picture of tht BEUATIFUL ELEPHANT”.

    Its very painful to see him DIE bcoz of your IDIOCY.

    There r other areas to do MINING rather than ‘ “LOWER ZAMBEZI”. OTHER place RESERVE THEM imwe ba kaponya- ma Africans.

    It pains to b AN AFRICAN.

  29. This is all rubbish from these selfish miners. ok since the people of that area wants it, let it come and it shall be themselves regreting.

  30. As Zambians, we have to realize that nothing good is coming out of the copper mines to benefit the people. Yes, our so called investors are stealing from us blind by the time we wakeup it will be a sorry site. I think we should stop the opening of new mines until we have the capacity to mine ourselves. Do not let them sweet talk us. Where in the world have you ever heard of clean mining? They think we are fools? Just because they have bought the politicians and the local leaders does not warrant them the right to mine. Which people are they talking about, who are in support of this venture? The true owners are the animals in the national park, ask them. I am sure they say no to this nonsense

  31. Ba David Vilensky lekeni ubufi. Which investor focuses on health and safety of animals let alone humans at the expense of profit?

  32. Please choose the best answer to the question below

    George Chellah, president Sata’s press aide is a:
    (a) Intellectual pygmy
    (b) Intellectual dwarf
    (c) Intellectual midget
    (d) Al of the above

    HA HA HA PAMAFI

  33. What do you know about “biota” in Lower Zambezi? What plants are sensitive to human smell, sulphuric acid and copper leaching? Let us not even talk to animals and fungi.
    Australians, go and mine in Deserts of your country, do not come to make our wonderful greenlands desert.
    Why are you not talking of GOLD that you will mine and how will you extract it, cyanide, or take ore and do it in Lusaka, Feira, Chipata, or out of Zambia?
    We do not trust PF and under their regime whatever you say is a lie to us. For you to convince us that you will do greenest, cleanest and safest mine in Zambia, you shall wait for next government to take over, a Government elected with majority of votes (50%+1) to give you and the project a credibility factor much higher than donchi kubeba.

  34. cutting edge technology has been introduced to further minimise the risks to the environment, particularly in the use of a dry stacked tailings technology to address original concerns over possible pollution from a tailings dam, which will not now be used.

    Polution from mine waste does not just come from a tailling dam but also from dry stacked taillings as the fine particles can easily be blown as dust resulting in air pollution. Secondly when it rains the tailing pile is eroded, washing all the pollutants down stream to wherever. What about noise pollution? Have you addressed the issue of air polution from smelters?

    David Vilensky When the mine finally closes what cutting edge technique will be applied to cover the open pit??? Posterity will live with it like the case on…

  35. They’ll only build the cleanest greed and the only gain for Zambians will be hot air , PF 90 day lies reloaded.

  36. Come to find out, the majority of those opposing this have no clue what the major deal really is. The powerball is in the fact that Valentine Chitalu brought this up because he sits on the Zambezi Resource Board as a director.

    There are some individuals with great intelligence on this issue and they just want to frustrate the efforts of a fellow Zambian. When is this nonsense going to end? Why do we like pulling each other down?

    Some people are just sooooooo envious that a fellow Zambian has pulled this one off and he is about to be a billionaire should this mine be allowed to move ahead as planned.

  37. Reminds me of the same mentality that brought Clive Chirwa to his knees. I say, let the mine go ahead, these God forsaken lower Zambezi plains needs real economic activities and I would like to see Valentine Chitalu as the first Zambian on the Forbes List of billionaires next year.

    Kwati ni mbwa …. blah blah blah blah, nothing concrete just talking for the sake of it!!! Bushe mwe bena Zambia, mwalibelela ukucula nangu shani. Kwati citipu!!! Whenever something good comes your way the first thing you see are negatives.

    Chitalu is one of the smartest Zambians I know and I am proud that he is spearheading this behind the scenes. If half of the critics here would work just an eighth of the time they spend arguing here, they too would be millionaires. This is a good thing!!! Let’s Go!!!

    • meant to say “… these God forsaken lower Zambezi plains NEED real economic activities … Whenever something good comes your way, ONE OF the first things you see are negatives.”

    • I see your point and what you are saying makes a lot of sense but if we sell out our national parks what will we have left. If the mine was just outside the border of a national park i would support it. Just think about it every national park will have a mine in it if we set this precedence.

      In Africa we have sold our Brothers, Kids, Sisters into slavery in exchange for salt/cloths, sold our land, lives, we Choose to live in polluted cities we move to Europe where we are treated like pigs and we do all this just for a quick Buck. I think just for once lets keep something that we value. We are proud of our national parks lets keep it that way.

      I think as a Black Race we need just one thing that we can say we did not sell out on this one with pride when we hand it to our grand kids.

    • How come you are the only one who knows about this big due which is so special at the expense of our environment? What measures as a country have we put in place to monitor the radio active by product at this mine? Recall we have failed to deal effectively to control levels of pollution in the Kafue river, and with this mine which will have this by-product who will be there to regulate? Plse Mr Mumba, be sincere, the regulator is being overpowered even before the project starts…. we are not the last generation and we still have the home to solve on how we can best benefit from the current mines and the proceeds thereof.

    • B R Mumba, Sr.@ 52.3 Here is why: Clearly you are privy to certain inside information and have mentioned one big fish named: Valentine Chitalu. I will pardon your short-sightedness.

      In the days when Anderson Mazoka was still Anderson Mazoka, Anglo America was Mazoka and Mazoka was Anglo America. When Anglo America folded-up, Mazoka was being evacuated to Morning Side Clinic in South Africa (or which hospital was that?), only to be brought back to Zambia in a casket. And how much of Mazoka’s wealth have we seen since?

      The story of most other high profile Zambians has not been different. Many are either dead or living dead. Your Valentine Chitalu, if a billionaire tomorrow could be a state funeral in the making the day after. Must we bite the bullet?

    • @B R Mumba, Sr: Must the country’s interests be held to ransom by the flirting ambitions of that bigwig you call Valentine Chitalu?

  38. Zambians are just about to be screwed again thru this stinking deal while they’re left poorer with huge empty pits and monumental environmental damage.

    • The open pit can later be converted into a man-made lake, could later be used as water reservoir and a precursor for fish farming, next!!!

    • Preserve your game from what? The mine is no danger to it, poaching is!!! Are you sure you want to expend your energies fighting wrong battles? Please advise … thanks a trillion.

  39. B. R Mumba Sr. You talked about Mr. Chitalu and his foresight. The man has been a thief from day one. Stole to ZPA during Chiluba days. They were in league of stealing and selling parastatals for a song and sharing the loot. He has a company in Mauritius that he uses for money laundering. His outfits in Zambia are conduits for facilitating shoddy deals for investors who pay him in Mauritius. His friends are all foreigners and he got free shares in financial outfits in Lusaka for washing dirty dozens. Zambezi Resources is a daylight theft, uranium, gold and copper are in plenty. How can you convert an open pit mine into a fish pond- with arsenic substance floating all around. May be you will bring fish to die there and ants from your chief’s anthill to feed on them. Get a life, loser.

  40. I love barotseland the last natural heritage standing. The good men must fight this greed with the fervency of the evil men proposing it. Who do they think are fooling. What clean mine? High wash.

  41. “The survival of our wildlife is a matter of grave concern to all of us in Africa. These wild creatures amid the wild places they inhabit are not only important as a source of wonder and inspiration, but are an integral part of our natural resources and our future livelihood and well being.
    In accepting the trusteeship of our wildlife we solemnly declare that we will do everything in our power to make sure that our children’s grand-children will be able to enjoy this rich and precious inheritance.
    [Cont’d]

  42. The conservation of wildlife and wild places calls for specialist knowledge, trained manpower and money, and we look to other nations to co-operate with us in this important task – the success or failure of which not only affects the continent of Africa but the rest of the world as well.”

    Julius K. Nyerere, Arusha Manifesto, 1961

  43. please stop kidding us, leave our heritance alone. They have messed up the Kafue river now they are after the Zambezi. PLEASE ZAMBIANS WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF not for you then for OUR CHILDREN. they hide in the name of creating Jobs! what jobs when they fail to meet minimum wages and these contract jobs offer no job security as they have no union representation, LET THEM TAKE THEIR MONEY ELSEWHERE. LET THE GOVT educate Zambians to run such investments at least you will be assured that the money earned will remain here (Zambia) and don’t believe these these fairly gods! that they have the interest of Zambians at heart!

Comments are closed.

Read more

Local News

Discover more from Lusaka Times-Zambia's Leading Online News Site - LusakaTimes.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading