ZCCM Investment Holdings PLC (ZCCM-IH) says it has embarked on an ambitious diversification programme which will see its interests extended to the manufacturing, power generation, agriculture and real estate sectors.
ZCCM-IH Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Pius Kasolo told delegates to the 2016 Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town yesterday that the diversification programme as part of rebranding from a mining company which the institution has continued to be associated with.
Speaking when he made a presentation entitled ‘Diversifying the Investment Portfolio’, Dr. Kasolo said the programme has advanced with work on establishing Zambia’s biggest cement manufacturing company already started.
Dr. Kasolo said financing for the 5, 000 tonnes-per day-cement company which will be established at Ndola Lime Company Limited, has already been secured. The plant will be self-sufficient in electricity as it will have a 52 megawatt power plant constructed alongside the main project.
He said the cement company will utilise about 22 megawatts of the electricity generated while the excess will be sold.
Dr. Kasolo said that apart from helping to bring down the price of cement, the plan was also to cushion the suffering of mine employees on the Copperbelt who recently lost their jobs through retrenchment.
“The main task I was given at my appointment was to industrialise Zambia and I can assure you that we have started and we are well on course. It should be acknowledged that the lower the price of cement is, the more development you trigger because everyone including private citizens will be involved in construction,” Dr. Kasolo said.
He said, to leverage on the power deficit, ZCCM- IH has diversified into thermal power generation through Maamba Collieries Limited, in which it held 35% shareholding.
It currently has shareholding portfolio in 16 companies, including biggest mines such as Kansanshi mining plc, Mopani copper mines and Konkola copper mines.
ZCCM-IH, with its partners has invested close to $850 million at Maamba Collieries Ltd, to construct a thermal power plant which will produce 300MW of power by mid-2016 and 600MW once completed.
ZCCM IH has about, 2000Hetares of land in Lufwanyama with a water frontage on the Copperbelt Province, which has great potential for farming high yielding crops such as soyabeans, oilseeds and maize or livestock (cows and pigs) and fisheries (aquaculture).
“When privatisation occurred assets were issued to residents and companies as a form of payment. Certain assets were forgotten, and upon discovering that we have a number of properties, we decided to capitalise on them, upgrading and renting them out.”
Separately, Dr. Kasolo earlier disclosed that ZCCM-IH had partnered with locals in Luapula Province to explore for manganese. The project has already been funded and would soon start mining operations.
He said ZCCM-IH had a community gold mining project in North-western Province in which they had partnered with Chief Kasempa and with Chief Ingwe community in the Katoka Mema Gold Mining project.
Dr. Kasolo is part of the Zambian delegation led by Minister of Mines and Minerals Development, Mr. Christopher Yaluma, at the world’s biggest mining conference which is underway in Cape Town until 11th February, 2016.
Others are Deputy Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources, Mr. Richard Musukwa; Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr. Christopher Mvunga and Zambia’s High Commissioner to South Africa His Excellency Mr. Emmanuel Mwamba.
Mr. Mwamba stated that Zambia would present a strong and emphatic case to underline the fact that the country remained one of the most suitable, strong, and stable investment destinations in the world.
He pointed out that the Mining Indaba presented a perfect opportunity to market Zambia to the rest of the World.
He explained that Mr. Yaluma and his team had a busy week during which they will make presentations and speak at various highly strategic panel discussions.
Mr. Yaluma started with speaking at the 4th Annual Ministerial Symposium on Sunday; on 9th February, the Minister will attend the World Bank-organised Special Information Session dubbed Good Governance is Good Business while on 10th February, Mr Yaluma will lead a high-powered group that will team-up to make a country case study presentation on Zambia. Others in the team are Mr. Mvunga; Vedanta Resources Plc Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Tom Albanese; Dr. Kasolo; Gemfields Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Ian Harebottle.
Mr. Yaluma has also held side meetings with various potential investors and interviews with both local and international media during which he laid out challenges and solutions being pursued by Government in the mining sector.
The conference has attracted speakers from all over the world that include Ministers of Mines, representatives from mine houses, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, Africa Development Bank and others.
ZCCM must be privatised
Can I ask you a question?
Right- do you prefer mediocrity or Perfectionism.
Good, now tell me do you like wasting time or do you prefer to get on with it?
Remember what they say about time? – Great you got it!..
Now tell me, why would you want to settle for second best don’t you prefer the winning formula?
I know I know.. Well the best on the table is Miles Sampa.
He has energy to burn, Finesse of Abraham Lincoln, Longevity of Mandela, Love of Obama.
I am talking to you- Yes you!, Yes you.
Don’t make the mistake again with HH or EL- Vote Miles Sampa and say Goodbye to mediocrity once and for all.
Enough is enough
Thanks
BB2014
@mushota stop bringing mediocrity here. That indaba is a serious and high profile meeting not befitting under fives. Govt is fully represented and there is no room for another under five to tell lies because they will skin him alive and expose his diaper.
@Mushota If only he was a good gamesman! The lad does not know which side his bread is buttered on. Why not have remained in PF silently doing the work and get the respect from his party which he lost. Well maybe not!! It’s a good thing he left, but maybe this Party thing is not so wise. Sure he could have gone for some Directorship in an international or national company? Oh wait he already is a Taxi Industrialist! Good of you to shore up your mate but people are not going for thus!
Is it because the price of copper is down? They sing about diversification only during bad times.
It pains me how professionals are turned into political vuvuzalas when elections are near, Where was ZCCM-IH all this time and why now.
Its difficult to work in Africa as a professional because all politicians just want to be in power without doing anything for the people.
After losing market share in industrial lime, its core business, Ndola Lime will lose serious money in the crowded cement business. They cannot compete against Dangote, Lafarge and the new Chinese cement manufacturers. And ZCCM-IH wants to do everything from farms, lodges, mines, to elevator companies. Isn’t this ZCCM all over again? Deja vu.
@Buck teeth, I’m also questioning the fact that ZCCM-IH wants to go into all these sectors when it was recently handed over to the IDC, a vehicle created to do precisely this. Perhaps someone knowledgeable can clarify.
why now? Because there is political will coming from the president
This is very good effort on the part of Kasolo directing ZCCM-IH in the right direction. Reckon HE President Lungu should be eyeing him for a Senior Ministerial Post. He has got the diversification bug and demonstrating not just mouthing it.
If all Mining Heads did the same, it will rejuvenate the Mining Industry into contributors to Tax Zambia or at least we will benefit from the jobs created. However the problem with Mines in Zambia is that most of the income and profits are externalised. We need a bigger share for Zambia. It’s annoying to note Vedanta is at the conf. Why or why Zambians can such people take advantage of us?!
Zccm difersifcation …..when were you born . Zccm ran mulungushi investment ,it was a total failure and now someone wants to take us back to those days.crazy,crazy,.we are even failing to run a small co like zamtel .shame on us .
Unrelated diversification for a large organisation may present problems! KK and UNIP tried to use ZCCM to diversify the economy, it did not work as most of the entities were subsidized from mining revenues. The same assets Kasolo is talking about failed because the mining giant ventured in unrelated businesses of transport,agric,tourism etc! We seem to be heading in that direction once more and we may be using borrowed money!! Why can’t ZCCM concentrate on mining and related industries like yes;cement factories and power generation from coal-they both require mining the raw material. But farming,real estate?? So what then is the job of Industrial Development Corporation(IDC)? I thought they were better placed to spear head investment in non mining sectors for industrialization!!
@ patriot abroad. Iam equally flabbergasted to note that the likes of Vandeta are rubbing shoulders with Zambian officials but in Zambia are stabbing us on the back. It is a case of hypocrisy on the part of Vandeta and of inferiority complex on the part of the Zambian govt.
Concur @Lapkenifamily
It’s weird. No court case against them prospers in British Courts. It’s really annoying that a small country like Zambia is being robbed blind and profits are being paid into wealthier countries. We contribute more of our wealth into European countries. Why is Britain silent on this company’s activities in poorer countries?
Diversification is the song they like to sing when the shadows are long and the way forward bleak. It bespeaks how little foresight we have been blessed with.
LOL. If what LT have reported is remotely correct, then this ZCCM-IH Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Pius Kasolo, must be very naïve indeed w.r.t. industrialisation. Rebranding? He is rewinding the clock back to ZCCM subsidiary days and he calls it rebranding? I am sure he must have been ‘mining’ and browsing thru ZCCM Archives, and tumbled on some old analysis we did back in the day. He clearly admits he is yet to do a case study of what he is proposing, so he must be getting this stuff from somewhere else, i.e. Archives. Wait until he ‘mines’ his way into Kalulushi Technical Services Archives. He will go crazy with postulating ideas, we left there, out of context. Watch this space.
Seriously, I hope against hope he has been misquoted by LT.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and…
Cont’d…. “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result” – Albert Einstein.
You see Dangote business brief …you copy and paste wanting to kill him off…why don’t you stick to agriculture if you truly want to diversify?
There is a huge difference between having money to start something & having entrepreneur skills to run the business. Kasolo himself run away from South Africa after failing to run a number of entities he was involved in with other investors. The Dangotes of this world are calculating businessmen who clearly have strategic visions & understanding of the art of making money. Current, ZCCM – IH is not even involved in any mining activity. They just have shares in various mining houses in Zambia, which they negotiated for during the privatization of the mines. They are no entrepreneurs in ZCCM who can even run a small chicken run. Lets wait & see.
You can never make a success of a parastatal in Zambia, there is always political interference. Just look at how they have destroyed ZAMTEL which was doing well under lapgreen. Its a shell!! Look at ZESCO, its a national disaster. So spare me the fairy tales Mr Kasolo.
one thing. stands out here,ZCCM are trying to expand the investment portfolio.The idea of social investment is what will kill this investments.For example already we know that low electric tarrifs has been the reason why Zambian has not attracted investment in power.Kasolo’s idea of diversifying for survival also sets a trap for ZCCM which in the case is social investment,the trap that killed ZCCM.
We were told that only kasakaSC will speak kanshi bufi yaba
Comment: Oh no ! it can not work KK tried it did not work is cry of a Foolish man. Seize an opportunity and execute it and move forward . Bring up your suggestions rather than criticizing without offering solutions