CHINGOLA, 26 November 2015, today Konkola Copper Mines announced that it is placing the Nchanga underground mine (NUG) in Chingola under managed care and maintenance with effect from Friday, 27th November 2015.
The decision to place NUG on a managed Care and Maintenance programme was arrived at on Wednesday, 25th November 2015 after close consultation and dialogue with the three trade unions that represent KCM employees. The unions and KCM prepared a joint announcement about the basis for this decision, which is attached to this release.
Over the last year, the price of copper has fallen from around $6,500 per tonne to $4,500 per tonne which is the lowest since 2009. In the light of the declining prices, KCM has been reviewing its operations and the NUG was highlighted as a loss making asset which, if allowed to continue, would result into the business losing $30–$40 million over the next year. In view of the fore going, the decision to place NUG under Care and Maintenance has been made in order to protect the financial viability of the whole KCM business.
All contracting firms operating at NUG will be released. This will impact on 1,675 of their employees immediately and a further 825 over the next three months. All pensionable KCM employees and permanent staff from the Nchanga underground will be redeployed within the business.
During the period of managed care and maintenance KCM will conduct a technical review to evaluate the best way to bring the operations back into production when market conditions improve.
Issued by
Shapi Shachinda
Manager Public Relations & Communications
This is another sad day for Zambia… As a country, the only way forward is to diversify the economy and move away from this diminishing sector called mining…
HH MUST TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL THESE!!!
“No mine will lay off a single miner” said Chishimba Kambwili just a month ago. Today we have already 4300 and more to follow on the street with just $1,500 (or K 18,000 if you insist)!
Don’t worry – 2,500 cancers will be amputated by KCM
To all you miners losing Jobs, Chagwa has told us that your Cancerous!!!!!!!!
IFINTU NI LUNGU
IFINTU NAFILUBANA
LET ME HEAR THOSE SONGS AGAIN BASHI MINE I BELIEVE YOU HAVE SEEN A LESSON HERE AND YOU WILL VOTE WISELY
IFINTU nafiLUNGUla
it is true it is happening in Chingola,People have lost jobs
Where is kambwilli to sort out these mines kanshi???
Kambwilli pleas stop taking cover, we need you….
Finally he has sold his soul to Dora Siliya and joined the bandwagon of visionless ECL
This were we expect bashi Nono to help sort out these issues
so you all want to blame ECL for the job losses. he does not control the prices of copper for your own information.even you , if you ran a kantemba and the profits go down cause your products are losing value on the world market,you would be forced to take drastic measures to save your business.only job losses attributed to power cuts should be attributed to ECL…..
The low price of copper is only half the equation.
What about loadshedding? What about lack of dollars in the market? What about about unstable fiscal policies? What about non payment of VAT refunds?
Please let me know who is responsible for these?
How about the excessive borrowing? Corruption in road sector are these also happening in the world?
We need a leader who can face these problems head on not one who whines when confronted by problems and says only god will provide solutions. Even in your home does your father just tell you to go and sleep hungry and pray that god will provide you with food because he has no money to buy mealimeal. We need a pragmatic leader who will find solutions to these solutions.
Uko!
Whisper – walasa mwana
We are going through the Zamtel phase again when a lot of people lost their jobs. How many of the mines top bosses (expatriates) have been trenched? If they trench 5 of them some jobs for Zambians would be saved. These expatriates get so much money that one expats salary can pay 100 Zambian workers and yet most of them don’t know their jobs, the work is being done by Zambians who are paid meager salaries. They get free housing, good schools for their children, free car and fuel, almost everything is free. Just recently that stup1d Indian man Agarwal was making fun of us of how cheaply he got the mines and the huge profits he is making. We should wake up as Zambians and start running our own affairs. It is so annoying that almost everything belongs to foreigners, land, mines, mukula…
As a former Zambian Expat, you are correct, our salaries are enormous compared to the Zambian. However, Zambia is not our home, we are not there for the weather, we did not go there for a good time, we went there to make a difference, to pass on skills and knowledge, then leave. I was there for six years, when I arrived the mine was a disaster, when I left the Nchanga Pit had mined several cobalt and copper campaigns that should have brought millions in terms of wealth to the Zambian nation, but due to corrupt Zambian politicians running (ruining) the country, nothing changed for the average Zambian citizen. When you point your finger, at least 3 are pointing back at you.
BUT CHAGWA HAS JUST TOLD US THAT HE SAVED JOB LOSES FROM 7000 TO 4000, IS THIS GUY HONEST?
THIS IS WHAT CHANGWA DOES BEST WITH HIS KACHASU-JEMASON
Care and maintenance, let all the Nsamyas “the so called” expertriates all be send out not only affecting Zambians.
I would love to urge the unions, NUMAW, MUZ and UMUZ and government to serious consider scrapping off tax (Zero Tax) on the benefits of the affected miners, the K18,000 ceiling is way too low. And the banks to calculate loan deductions favourably, because these loans have insurance and miners’ loan repayment interest rates appear to be on the high side than the civil servants. Moreover, we do not know as to when the red metal prices are going to stabilize.We only have strong predictions that it would be some time mid next year.
KCM will reallocate their resources to other departments. Some friends of mine have already been relocated to other departments and business units.
Where is the caliber and charisma of leadership that we had in the year 2002, when ANGLO left? It is understandable the Red metal prices are down.But where is the cobalt that these investors get as a By product from Copper? Can’t they put interventions in place to maximise cobalt production and stockpile the copper like was the case in the ZCCM days in the year 1975? Where is ZCCM-IH, EIZ and government? can’t these three entities work out something in the short time to sustain earmarked mines that could be less costly to run than the reported high cost ridden KCM- Nchanga Underground mine? Mopani has invested heavily and i feel government can workout something with IMF,Word Bank in the short term as was the case in 2002.
This is just the beginning more is yet to come.Chagwa Lungu will just dangle a carrot next year(2016)just after elections we will now announce the true picture of the economy and the IMF austerity measures and tell you to tighten the belt while he will be loosening his. lol Zambians are dogs were tribalism is concerned. They can even vote for decomposing copes rather than voting for a Tonga who is a successful economist with clear message on how to turn around this economy. God forgive us we are just human beings. HH may God bless you more with your family and let the tribalist be cursed with more poverty and hunger.
show my postings ba lT
Comment:what has happened, it is our cause. because we have left what is ours to be controlled by the so called investors ,we are too lazy to think. young men of these days have refused to learn and be on top of everything, we are spectators lets change.
Zambia is the country which has failed to run its own affairs, when u take a look at the stastics of illetracy levels it is about 64 percent which is worrysome cuz wen u just listen to the news on national broadcasting ZNBC u find that they televise iseus which never address the problems or the solutions to predicaments yet they misinform the nation by telling informations which do not address the needy and continual telling citizens that things are ok and find that others have being listening to such false infomation this shows that illitrecy levels are still high and zambians plz!! Plz!! Let us not listen to a new politcal tool called triblelism. It a weapon. Inverted so that we might not vote for leaders who have high caliber and calismer of inverting new intiatives and ideas to cop…