KONKOLA Copper Mines (KCM) Nchanga concentrator in Chingola has been shut down.
KCM public relations and communications manager Shapi Shachinda said Nchanga concentrator has been out of operation since Saturday.
Mr Shachinda said KCM was forced to shut down the concentrator on Saturday following the Copperbelt Energy Corporation’s (CEC) unilateral decision to restrict power supply to KCM.
He said in a statement that shutting down the concentrator has in turn affected production at the company’s Tailings Leach Plant (TLP), which depends on primary material from the concentrator.
“KCM has lost an estimated 482 metric tonnes of copper production from the concentrator and the TLP since Saturday, worth approximately $3.3 million,” he said.
Mr Shachinda said the restrictions imposed by CEC were greatly impairing KCM’s production and profitability, which compromises the safety of employees and may have implications for job security if prolonged.
The Nchanga concentrator, which has an annual capacity of nine million metric tonnes per year, is the largest of two concentrators that KCM operates, the other being the Konkola concentrator.
Mr Shachinda said KCM has been committed to finding a lasting resolution to the dispute with CEC and it was disappointing that CEC had taken such production impacting action.
Binani all over again. They can’t even sustain their own business
Well done CEC! These KCM vultures brag in India that they are making huge profits yet they do not want to pay bills here. Squeeze them CEC, if they can’t pay and operate, let them leave right away!
They are bringing in job security issues to hoodwink the government so they can continue running without paying CEC. How about Job security at CEC? Do they think CEC will pay it’s workers by collecting sand!?
Give them not power until they pay. Why can’t their chairman withdraw a few of his billions of dollars and sort out this bill!?????????????????
KCM and Fred MuMmembe seems to have one thing in common. All common crooks and criminals.
Pay up all you owe CEC and don’t cry foul. In future I would suggest CEC requests you pay them 3 months in advance prior to there supplying you with any power.
Well done CEC! These KCM vultures brag in India that they are making huge profits yet they do not want to pay bills here. Squeeze them CEC, if they can’t pay and operate, let them leave right away!
They are bringing in job security issues to hoodwink the government so they can continue running without paying CEC. How about Job security at CEC? Do they think CEC will pay it’s workers by collecting sand!?
Give them not power until they pay. Why can’t their chairman withdraw a few of his billions of dollars and sort out this bill!?????????????????
….this is now becoming serious…closing Concentrator is just as good as declaring the whole Nchanga Mine closed because the concentrator is the heart of the operations…if they make that much $3m in five days, how did they accumulated the bill in contention..??
…not long ago, the govt promised to release the findings/report on KCM by some technical committee they had appointed to look at KCM operations…did I miss it or it just hasn’t been released yet..??
KCM. a company operating without any management procedure they have got alot of papers as procedures but they dont follow what they have. Each manager’s knowledge is the procedure on the part of management.
let them go go go go go go goooooooooooooooooooooooooo
This is worrying. If this is a case of unpaid electricity bills, and KCM resorts to this method, then most certainly it means they have a few guys in PF Govt in their pockets, and KCM is exploiting a weak compromised Govt. This is worrying.
This is MMD and the late Mwanawasa’s faulty. MHSRIP. They are the ones who sold this mine for a song.
If you are able to make such kind of money in a matter of days, why not pat up. And experts please spare me the economic jargon!!!
Doesn’t Fred M’membe have a deal with KCM to ferry copper to Namibia? i hope it doesn’t affect his ability to pay what is due to ZRA..
There is something certainly wrong with KCM as a whole, I don’t think they are following corporate governance to the core. Everything just seems so wrong. KCM is trying to win sympathy from govt, how many of the Zambia can default in that manner and go unpunished. KCM is such a bad investor full of cheap Public Relations that they are doing this and that rubbish.
LOL!! how can they pay $44m to CEC when they have been raided by the bailiffs at their corporate office in Lusaka for not settling some little money with kama small institution in Lusaka. ?? those chaps are not serious and I would suggest that, their directors and their MD is not allowed to leave the country until they settle all the owe in Zambia. malabishi!!!!
Visit any operating facility in Chingola and you will see the desolation in people, infrastructure.
If the Concentrator is shut, the open pits cant run and neither can NUG, because the two sources feed the concentrator, which in turn feeds the TLP.
People of Chingola, you must fight your own battles, look at your roads. Your MPs, Katema is just lying while Simuusa is busy with farming. They will never come to Chingola until they are done with the carcass.