Vedanta Resources says it has not abandoned hopes of resolving a legal dispute with the Zambian government out of court.
Commenting in a statement yesterday, Vedanta CEO, Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan said that whilst the group intended to defend its legal rights, it remained “open to dialogue”.
Mr. Venkatakrishnan said the company was concerned about what the appointment of a provisional liquidator meant for the people in Zambia, their communities and the future of the business.
Vedanta said the ZCCM petition called for the winding up of KCM on the basis of fairness and equity rather than on grounds on insolvency, a misuse of Zambia’s corporate law given that the parties had agreed a specific dispute mechanism in the shareholders’ agreement.
“The sooner we resolve the uncertainty around the business, the sooner we can return it to a sustainable footing.”
“We hope to meet with the Zambian government in the near future to discuss a mutually agreeable solution to the current situation as well as the broader challenges faced by KCM,” Mr. Venkatakrishnan said.
“The sooner we resolve the uncertainty around the business, the sooner we can return it to a sustainable footing.”
A court hearing involving Vedanta and Zambia over the control of KCM was adjourned on Friday until June 4.
That gives Vedanta just under a week to engage with the government.
Vedanta says Zambia is misusing corporate law by calling for the winding up of KCM on the basis of fairness and equity rather than on grounds of insolvency.
“While Vedanta intends to fully defend its legal rights, we remain open to dialogue,” Mr. Venkatakrishnan said in a statement.
“We hope to meet with the Zambian government in the near future to discuss a mutually agreeable solution to the current situation as well as the broader challenges faced by KCM.”
Vedanta Resources, partial owner of the Mumbai-listed Vedanta group of companies, is the majority shareholder of KCM.
The government is pressing for the liquidation of KCM, which it has accused of breaching its operating licence, in a case that has stoked broader concerns among international miners about a rise in resource nationalism.
The mining firm argues that ZCCM-IH’s application followed undue legal process because it wasn’t predicated on solvency and, therefore, the matter should have been subjected to procedures set down in the shareholders’ agreement.
Vedanta also contends that it wasn’t apprised of the application, or present at its lodging.
On Friday, the court appointed Milingo Lungu as provisional liquidator and he is now in charge of day to day running of the company. Lungu has said business will continue as usual.
Vendata, which also has mining operations in Australia and India, has invested $3 billion in Zambia since 2004.
We are getting tired of this. Can the president address the nation on a question and answer session so that people’s worries can be averted. Even when I make a decision in my household I ensure that my beautiful Swiss wife elisa and the kids are allowed to question my decisions. This is called effective leadership.
You have replaced mushota .from nick to swiss hehehe
Before 80 s marrying a white would would improve your image by 90%
Anyone its free Zambian entertainment
It seems that now the battle is between Mushota and N.E.Z – from Nick to Swiss Lady.
Anyway anything with the name Swiss thus far is good:
Swiss Watch
Swiss Bank
and now we have Swiss Lady.
Vendata will be represented by that CEO and The other one based in London.
Zambian government will be represented by Kaizer and Amos Chanda, what an insult..
When is the out-of-court settlement meeting at state house?
The President is a Lawyer, he cannot say nothing at the moment as this case is before the courts of law, study about Liquidation Act of Zambia ?
There will be no further dialogue between Government and Argawal’s Vedanta. We are fed up with fake promises of billion dollar investments while the mine plant continues looking like remnants of Iraq war. Enough is enough with those indian crooks.
An ***** abroad!
It’s end game … all the major pieces on this chess board are gone and the king is about to be pinned.
We are possessing, we are taking back what’s ours once and for all. It’s game over for Vendanta.
Let’s roll
That’s PF for you even a right thing they will always mess up on execution it….I can see this being a messy legal battle in a London court.
P.F = dishonest Crooks.
Vedanta ==dishonest Crooks.
A MARRIAGE MADE IN HELL, AS CAN’T TRUST ANY OF THESE PARTIES TO ACT IN THE BEST INTRESTS OF THE POOR ZAMBIAN CITIZEN.
Vedanta vs PF sounds like organized criminal cartels.
Unfortunately they are both crooks …we the taxpayer are called between a leopard high up a tree and a hungry lion at the bottom.
*….are caught…
Investors should come to Zambia to set up production industrial in order to transfer technology and exploit skilled labour
You can never find a foreigner in china or India getting raw materials for export.
Let us reposes or at least have 70% shares in mining.
I agree with you for once……but lungus GRZ is too weak and clueless
This is a chance for the Zambian Government to do things right and set an example to would be foreign exploiters how to behave in Zambia. Whatever the government should do should insure that the interests of the Zambian people are put first. We know that there is a group of people with offshore accounts that side with foreign imperialist and ready to run away from Zambia when things suit them
Sad thing is that Zambians have no principles at all. We are where we are because we follow the wind. Before this action by the government, everyone was urging the government to repossess the mine, but once the government obliged we see all types of intellectuals coming up with their theories. If people can just admit that they actually do not have tangible solutions, we shall be better off. I’m sure if the government today broke ties with the Chinese, the Chinese would instantly become heroes.
These Vedanta guys even have the ghats yo fight us in order to continue getting our wealth developing India go back to india we don’t want you in zambia thiefs enough is enough mxxm
Government is the one that has created the problems at KCM through the New Mining Tax Regime,High Electricity Tariffs,Import Duties on Imported concentrates,High Fuel Costs which are affecting the entire Mining Industry in Zambia.In the near future we see the collapse of the entire Mining Industry if these issues are not addressed.How do you impose taxes on exports of Emeralds, Honestly?
6.0 do you follow world events? In South Africa fuel and electricity charges are increased almost every three months. So you want the mines to have free power and the government to pay Zesco for it? And have you bothered to check why government wants to replace the current tax regime with another one?
KCM has a large scale mining licence not a processing licence.
KCM stopped mining a long time ago and have depending on imported concentrates from.DRC.
Introducing duty on imported concetrates is correct.Let them START MINING
The emerald industry is the next one Government should focus on.
Lufwanyama has not benefitted from that mineral.
Export duty is correct.
The whole world knows Vendata are evil. Research Zambians, they have caused the loss of life even in their own root country. Zambians this one fight as one.
Ba Kanchebele please read more before commenting on such issues
And you think Milingo Lungu a black Zambian can run the mines. What a joke!!!!
Munyenge not all Zambians are dull like you. Black Zambians have run mines before. Yes Milingo is not competent enough for such a task but we have capable guys to run our mines
Government should have monitored this
Company from 2004.Now because they
Are claiming 180 million dollars vat refunds and not paying tax .We want to
Grab in the name liquidation. They are
Blackmailing in the name of out of court
Settlement. Let them go.
I fully agree with me lungu on this
…..despite the fact that it is being done when GRZ is broke.
I fully support GRZ , let’s support GRZ and grow our mining management skills.
Zambians should be running the mines.
KCM HAS BEEN MISMANAGED BY VEDANTA FROM THE GET GO.
VEDANTA HAS BEEN APPOINTING CEOs WHO ARE ACCOUNTANTS AND NOT MINING PROFESSIONALS. I REMEMBER THE FIRST VEDANTA CEO WHO NEVER EVER WENT UNDERGROUND TO SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON BUT JUST LOOKED AT THE “BOTTOM LINE”
SMALL WONDER THEN THAT THE KDMP FLAGSHIP PROJECT HAS FAILED.
VEDANTA MUST GO:,LIKE YESTERDAY.
What some don’t know or don’t want to admit is that Vedanta didn’t come to do mining. They did their due diligence and discovered that there hundreds of thousands of various categories of readily available resources i.e. drilled off tonnage, active or broken tonnage, concentrate and of course the open pit overburden piles which contain some profitable grades of copper. They accepted all conditions including what you have mentioned (you can find it the 86 page contract ) knowing full well that they were not ready or interested in doing any new mining. The rest is as they say is history. We need a lasting solution to the problems facing the good people of Chingola.
Vendetta should go period.They have mistreated Zambians.Let us get our shares.These crooks will continue bribing govt officials at the expense of poor Zambians.Please ba lungu just look for a good investor and let us increase our shares in KCM to 60% so that most decisions will be made by Zambians
Another dull PF cadre.Which shares are you going to increase in KCM.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT LIQUIDATION MEANS? THERE WILL BE NO KCM AFTER LIQUIDATION
Can anyone tell me why KCM has been importing copper concentrates from DRC?? Zambian copper ore is found very deep underground, making the production costs very high compared to imported concentrates from DRC inclusive of transportation. Traditional mining methods are incapable of sustaining the production costs and keep the company viable. For KCM to remain profitable and viable, they need to make huge capital investments in modern mining production and technologies. Meaning they won’t be able to produce a profit for a while, and you can’t take away Vat if that has to happen. Don’t listen to PF noise makers. They are lying as they always do.
@James, did your friends Vedanta not know at the time of applying for a MINING licence that our “copper ore is found deep underground”? Those crooks do not deserve any support whatsoever from any right thinking person
11.1 They bought a mine which was already deep but because of their hidden motive, the mine was “shallow ” enough to manage. In any case there are mines which are deeper than our mines some of them far below sea level.
Well since they bought it from a president for 25,000,000 they now think they can negotiate with whoever is in State House…but the numbers don’t under up…..and those lawyers representing them are vultures with no heart….so no negotiations
Story on Zambia & ECL.
OP-ED
Zambia: When you get to the bottom of the hole, stop digging
Greg Mills
16 hours ago
The situation at KCM ,where the two wrong doers have meet in the ring for a fight: PF government of Zambia Vs Vendanta of India.
The wrong,untimely and inconsistency or manipulative rules of PF administration are been applied on KCM as they claim to have the mandate of Zambian people constitutionally.
On other hand have KCM been involved in tax evasion,tax avoidance and unfaithful with their financially dealings.
The application of Liquidation exercise have been applied with wrongly and with fully of emotional as the economic is at its knees. The liquidation was previously applied on UBZ and Zambia Airways as both firms were insolvent but not KCM . The PF government want there usual christian doctrine of praising their president as a messiah even if things are been applied wrongly and…
The PF government want there usual christian doctrine of praising their president as a messiah even if things are been applied wrongly and also force or brainwash their cadres.
Both parties should go back to drawing table and come up with sustainable conditions after local and international consultation, in order avoid PF cadres loosing employment. Save the jobs for PF cadres as they are the sole beneficiaries of the current employment opportunities including Dr Habazoka
FLIP FLOPING tatulefwaya.
Decision has already being made
Please close this chapter…VANDETTA must go period.
A shareholder ZCCM-IH petitioning the high court to liquidate KCM on grounds other than insolvency.That is a gross misuse of the liquidation law.
People should note that the development agreements signed between the Mwanawasa government indicate that disputes between the two parties will be handled by the London high court.
In this matter,the PF wont be able make phone calls to cadre judges like Chitabo to rule in their favour.
REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED TO LAPGREEN.THE ZAMBIAN TAX PAYERS NOW HAVE TO PAY $350MM FOR BREAKING INTERNATIONAL LAWS
No no… sorry this time you have to go. Enough is enough…we cant continue with your lies and crookedness. Go and invest elsewhere.
If you are Indian, please take you and Vendata and invest in Mumbai. Zambians are God’s people, they don’t need satanic leeches like Arwal.
Takuli ifyo naimwe.London kwisa.
Development agreements for Vendata MUST be done away with
If the Zambian Govt spurns Vedanta Dialogue Offer then the Dispute in terms of the KCM Shareholders Agreement will be referred to London Courts for Arbitration. GRZ will lose this Case becoz it Breached the Shareholders Agreement and did not follow correct Legal Procedures in seeking to liquidate KCM. This will be a Repeat of LapGreen Case and Zambia will be legally bound to pay huge sums of USD in compensation to Vedanta. Just wait and see.
Danielle, buying a mine is not like buying a or a house? It’s easy to inspect the 2 compared to a mine. Obviously you don’t expect a desparate PF government to be upfront with that information. They probably didn’t know that themselves. However you can tell that from the desparation to sale the mine that there were some underlying factors. Might be political and jobs to chase votes from miners. How do you explain the sale price from $400M to $25M? This mine was a going concern. I am not batting for Vedanta but trying to be very objective. Any drop in sell $375M while tell you that there is something wrong. These guys you put in government to run the economy of the nation should know what they are doing, otherwise we will be in endless problems. It doesn’t matter who you vote for but…
If KCM mine is as useless as you are trying to portray, how come your Indian friends are resisting to surrender it? The owner was caught on camera boasting of raking in $500 million in profits annually from the same “useless’ mine. Are you from Mumbai?
18 . 0 The PF may have many faults but it has a lot of technocrats just like your party. I have been involved with people buying a mine and it is just like any other business. You ask questions, you extract information in forms such core values etc. There are people there to explain to you the challenges the mine faces and it’s up to to assess the viability of the mine. Nobody is forced to buy if they think that it’s not worthy it. KK had vision in that he did not allow the opening of new mines but instead concentrate on other things like farming and manufacturing. But we abandoned his ideas.
Liquidation is the next best thing to Nationalization without investor fall out or alarms. The idea is that KCM as an entity wind down and investors behind it fall away as a result. The intention is not to revive KCM but to keep it operational until another investor pays off what is owing as purchase price for mining license and assets allocation. Without liquidation the investor will remain and no one wants them in zambia anymore.
Send them out. We See neither helpless nor desperate.
We are neither..
A Zambian would rather be a comfortable slave than a suffering freeman.
Does someone knows what liquidation means. Liquidation is about converting assets into cash for the debtors first, the Liquidator himself which the republic of Zambia and the remaining to workersin this case KCM employees and it is done when the company is insolvency and in the case of KCM, receiving as a going own concern was going to sound with sense rather than this liquidation. Liquidation mwebana bakwaLesa is the waste thing to do because this mine can not be resuscitated and reasons are that noone is ready now to invest his coin in a thing which is seen to be on the rocks. KCM is insolvent and therefore can not be recapitalized in its condition. Apart from liquidation there is other ways they could have done by maybe putting it on Receivership or MBO management buy out as a GOC…
What are you saying? Another educated moron
Where have you been all this time the Indians were mistreating Zambian suppliers with non payments?
Now you want to ……
@Danielle & Ndanje Khakis. With all respect I don’t support any of the political parties. Do you know why they love violence? It’s because they don’t want people with ideas to solve problems. The are in politics to loot nothing else. You didn’t answer my question? I would like to believe that they had carried out valuation of the entire KCM before they put it on the market, why then would someone discount it by 375%? It’s just criminal!! You can say Vedanta was captured on video bragging about scoring a mine, well he didn’t steal. He was in real shocked to buy a mine at $25M. In short he was saying the Zambian government is clueless and reckless. Now tell me who sold these mines? If they new they could get more from these mines why did the settle for such a shocking small amount…
James, what’s government? Government is not the president but all of us. After the departure of ANGLO, Zambians were left in and one of them is currently a director of a reputable international company. The then president decided to sell the mine basing on the advice of experts. These experts conveniently left out details such as the current Zambian lead management were capable of running the mine and that the mine had enough stocks to last years.
@Danielle & @Ndanje Khakis. Guys we also don’t know the terms of sale they agreed on. When the govt sold these mines there were also concessions that were given to them. They were probably given flat tax rates for a number of years. You can’t change the tax system before agreed time. We don’t know the facts, but we are just going by ECL’s shout comment at the airport. A serious person would have addresses a press conference and answer questions, and follow a legal method to resolve the matter and appoint Panel of credible across the mining, business and international law experts to handle the matter not this sham of a lawyer Milingo.
Romeo Kang’ombe duly elected MP for Sesheke. If there was violence it was caused by PF and they can not complain about there own violence so says the High Court judge. By the way where is the report voting trends and violence during the 2016 election? The President said every Zambian should read it and a lot of money was wasted for the commission of inquiry to go round the country. We are still waiting sir we want to know who is causing violence and why people voted the way they did
Please let Vendatta go we had enough of his nonsense
We don’t want Vedanta however lead us not into misery and don’t put our hard earned benefits to waste. You got to handle the whole case with caution and not to put your interests first. Receivership a better option
People are just talking from the blues, leave this issue to us who work for KCM. We have seen what you have not seen,experienced what you you have not known. Leave the president alone, he knows what he’s doing. Concentrate on your professionals and leave this issue to us. Nowipikafwe ifyumbu without knowing not even a bit of mining is busy commenting.Quite pliz I know it’s a national asset
ECL should accept the “Olive Branch” being offered by Vedanta the Majority Shareholder in KCM. The GRZ has No legal leg to stand on and will lose the Case badly in International Courts in London. The Zambian Govt has failed to follow Proper Liquidation Procedures and has breached the KCM Shareholders Agreement. If a Legal Solution is sought GRZ will loose this Case in Court and will be forced to urgently pay compensation to Vedanta for the Breach of Contract. Zambia’s Image, Reputation and Credit Rating will be tarnished in International Courts. The writing is on the Wall.
I do agree with you but how sure can you be that Vedanta would keep its part of the bargain. When you hit a snake you don’t hit on the tail, you hit it on the head. However there’s a provision similar to your suggestion in Clause 19 of the agreement concerning disputes and arbitration.
The king is about to be pinned?Satan said he was higher than god too.And was cast down.Peter Carlos Hinds.
“foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child.But the rod of correction will drive it far away.”.Bible.Peter Carlos Hinds.
“Spare the rod and spoil the child”.Bible.Peter Carlos Hinds.
Governments in the west.Are haunted by the high cost of child education.Which in some cases could consume up to a third of a government’s budget.Peter Carlos Hinds.
I love Zambia, I read a lot.The issues I have raised are affecting all Mining Companies.The Chamber of Mines and Association of Exploration Companies have warned that these issues if not addressed will lead to the collapse of the mining industry.The fact that fuel prices are increased everyday in SA does not make it cheaper in Zambia.BOZ statistics show that earnings from Copper have reduced in the first quarter due to the New Mining Tax Regime.Mr.Pius Kasolo,former ZCCM-IH boss was fired for speaking the truth about these taxes.All businesses in Zambia are complaining about the high cost of doing business.Which Mining area has Government ever gone to provide social services after collecting the mining Tax.In Lufwanyama the hospital and school was built by Kagem and Grizzly mining.What is…
So we’re at the mercy of these mining companies?
Story on Zambia & From Daily Marverick
OP-ED
Zambia: When you get to the bottom of the hole, stop digging
Greg Mills
16 hours ago
In the first place, Resource Nationalism, is a misnomer, because the resources belong to the country and its citizens. Technically, Mines are only legally, given licences which do not in anyway give ownership of the said resources. So there is no resource nationalism. Miners licences were a colonial government’s solution which worked under the idea that all gold and
other minerals belonged to the Crown not the colonies. Vendanta has no ownership rights and cannot threaten us nor claim rights. Vedanta has a terrible reputation and their grotesque operating actions and lack of ethics are well known. How can s corporation that has damaged our environment, and killed citizens by its operation threaten our sovereign right to take back our resources? Vedanta presents a weak…