Glencore plans to invest over $1.1 billion in Zambia to sink three shafts with new technology that will extend mine life by over 25 years.
“We firmly believe that we shall be able to overcome the challenges that we face today as a company and become profitable and operationally-efficient,” Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) said in a statement.
It said the investments would be made between now and 2018 and it was expected that Mopani would be turned into a world-class mining operation by 2023.
Glencore said it was fully committed to Mopani and had invested over $3 billion in upgrading infrastructure and in major capital expansion programmes since 2000.
Mopani Copper Mines in November last year laid off more than 4,000 workers after a fall in metal prices.
Someone said Zambia is not attracting any investments..can I be educated on this one.
I am willing to educate you but first answer these questions: Is attracting new investment the same as reinvestment by the same old company? If you have a shop and later decide to expand it is that the same as attracting investment?
Is reinvestment same as recapitalization? Just answer my first question. Stop confusing yourself.
Am not confusing myself and its very unfortunate that you are asking questions rather than answering me. Your initial argument above is that that Zambia is attracting investment and that the one who is saying Zambia is not attracting investment is wrong. Is the investment by Mopani the same as attracting investment?
Is the investment by Mopani the same as attracting investment? We hear whenever someone flies to Europe its to attract investment. If attracting investment means the same old companies like Mopani why then must people fly around to attract investment? Mr. Techilema educate me please.
Read the tittle again if you want to understand my question. Glenco could have invested that capital elsewhere. I hope you know that glenco is not only in Zambia. Why did they just get attracted to invest in the sinking of NEW shafts in mopani Zambia not Congo or Chile. Mind you it’s not recapitalization of the old projects but rather investing in NEW projects while old ones are still running.
(HH) and UPND kids, why are you misleading the people that Zambia has lost investors? You see now, the new hope from mines like Mopani? You can’t wish evil and calamity on the people you hope to lead and expect them to vote for you. This is good news from Mopani. Shows that investors have a lot of confidence in the PF government and the overall climate in the country.
No my friend, they see HOPE in the In Coming Government. They believe the challenges they are currently facing -power deficit, inconsistent tax and labour laws will be sorted out by the New Leadership. The copper price is global, but the others are within our control with prudent management. Ask yourself the question- Have Glencore just discovered new reserves now which were not available when they retrenched? Or have they just got a cash windfall? NO! The problem has been lack of confidence in governance. They are willing to reinvest now because they are confident that a new Government will be in place and the issues within our control will be sorted out. If PF is retained, the PLAN to invest will be shelved – rationalisation, re-branding bla bla bla rhetoric
Hakaiteka Heka, HH sorry Try Burundi and not the Zambia i know, you shall wake up to a rude shock and i would like to see all these Nincompoops making noise now About HH winning to continue after 12th August.
Very very poor reporting. Someone announces a one billion dollar investment and you give us three paras? Its your job to tell us where Mopani intends to sink the shafts. How will this extend the lifespan by 25 years. Why are they planning to sink the shafts when the price of copper isnt encouraging at least as we have been told. You just dont copy a press release and pass it on
Can not agree with you more. Glencore are PLANNING to invest not have INVESTED. The plan is based on the BELIEF that “we shall overcome the challenges we face to-day as a company and become profitable and operationally efficient” Question- what are the challenges? energy deficit, low copper prices, inconsistent tax policy. The reason they believe they can overcome the challenges is the hope that the commodity price will improve (this is global) and more importantly that the power supply will improve and tax regime will be friendly ( prudent governance- New leadership), keep a lean workforce for efficiency ( no hope for re-enganging all the 4K+ workers who were laid off). Glencore therefore forsee a change in Governance!Tacit endorsement of –?
A press release does not contain all the nit grit of the projects but just an overview of what they intend to do. An in depth analysis can now follow if wants to dissect into detail the nit grit of the project. That is editorial prerogative.
Mr Kambwali, political semantics will not help your cause. Does it matter whether the same company or another company brings the additional investments? And you have HH the economist to answer complex questions for you, why do you want to expose your ignorance by discussing things that are clearly beyond your comprehension? Why do you hate any good news for Zambia?
it is this kind of good news that those evil mInded Zambians who wish ill for Zambia and its citizens do not want to hear before the elections. Sorry you witches, more good news is coming to our ears in the period before the elections.
But please let it sink in your evil heads: NO CONDITION ON EARTH IS PERMANENT.
I am impressed too that the the good news was first broken to State House, I.e. Edgar Lungu. Shows that the two parties are working well together, but obviously this will not be received well by someone who does not like good news.
Oh and they wish it was Anglo American to do this, but Anglo is now broken unfortunately, and may never recover sufficiently to come and invest in Zambia rather than RSA. Sorry guys!
Wise head shut up, you and HH tichelema are trying to twist the story to fit your agenda. This not good news for you or the country unless you don’t understand that Glenco is first after their bottom end or interests before they even think of the country. tell us how your party is going to save our interests so we too get a share of that 25 years.
Stay away from HH, our government was promising a lot of jobs and things, but nothing had been put in place. Even this is just a roomour. Therefore stop dancing before eggs hatch.
It’s not a rumour. I was privileged to speak to a very senior Mopani executive in Kitwe who confirmed this investment by Mopani even before it was even announced by State House.
The truth of the matter is that Copper will forever be a releant metal for hundreds of years to come.
Whereeber there is development taking place, Copper is used in huge volumes and in different forms
It is folloy to think that a blop in the commodity price will spell doom for Copper pricing, and that that ia the end of Copper mining. Pricing flactuations in commodity pricing have been with us for a long time and always bounce back depending on demand. This demand is NOT usually driven by the producing country, i.e. Zambia, but by countires that have resolved to move a step further in their living standards, which we collectively call ”DEVELOPMENT” This time India and some other far east countries are uplifting their living standards and we will once again start seeing an…
Good news for Zambia and bad news for UPND and southern province.