Chinese firm China Nonferrous Metal Mining Co (CNMC) is poised to take over KCM assets belonging to Vedanta Resources.
According to Africa Mining Intelligence, the firm has ramped up its media presence over the past few days to proclaim the legitimacy of its purchase of KCM.
While the Zambian government’s request for KCM) to be liquidated has been put on hold by a court ruling, CNMC seems to be convinced that it will take over the sites.
In June, CNMC representatives took to the local newspapers to affirm that the company is the best suited, both in terms of technical and financial capacity, to buy the assets post-liquida- tion.
Guobin Hu, the managing director of Chambishi Nonferrous Africa Corporation, the CNMC subsidiary that operates a copper smelter near to the KCM sites, also recalled that the group has recently invested a further $800 million in Zambia.
CNMC would like to have a larger presence in the Copperbelt and is also keen to make acquisitions in neighbouring Congo where it has also built a copper smelter.
The Zambian government, which owes large sums to China, seems to have been won over by the move.
The Ministry of Mines is understood to have organised a trip for potential buyers to the KCM sites in late June.
The mines have been running at half-mast since the liquidation process began in May.
It will however be difficult to make any sale before the dispute between the government and Vedanta headed by Indian Anil Agarwal, has been settled.
The Lusaka court ruling on the matter called for the liquidation process to be suspended on June 27, while at the same time the mining firm intends to file for arbitration in South Africa.
‘The Lusaka court ruling on the matter called for the liquidation process to be suspended on June 27, while at the same time the mining firm intends to file for arbitration in South Africa.’
This is where it will get to another Zamtel saga when the Indians file for arbitration in international courts.Liquidation( winding up of a company) is the last option when other means (such as receivership) are not attainable and not vice versa.
Zambia can only be developed by Zambians and Kaunda and other departed mothers and fathers of this beautiful country proved so. Have anyone of you been to Luanshya and seen how dilapidated is the mines under the Chinese are?
GRZ should take 50% shares in the mine 10% to Zambian companies and 30% to which ever investor. It’s time to take control of our precious assets (Natural resources) and it’s now or never.
God bless Zambia.
The beat goes on.
China virtually owns Great Britain, the USA and giving Donald Trump headache. It now wants to own Africa.
Why is it like that. I guess money talks !!
Lungu – make sure the contracts cover the best interest of these mining towns and employees welfare’s . The Chinese are good at building Infrastructures. But poor with respecting (1) Human Rights, (2) Employee Governance and (3) Compliance Laws
( Thus if this is confirmed )
In short, we are selling mines to develop China so that you become dependent on low quality Chinese imports. Is this what we need as a country??
Wake up Zambians, you deserve better.
God bless Zambia.
Zambia as a nation should think about tomorrow and not what could in your pockets today. You are selling your sovereignty without even a blink of your eyes.
What a bunch of cowards we have become as a nation.
God bless Zambia.
@ Ba INDEPENDENT OBSERVER(1.2) –
Give me a break. How does China own the USA. Those are lies
Terence 1.5
Its not lies. The USA owes China estimated about $33 Trillions in Treasury Bills, plus mostly the money which is in Social Security Trust Funds, also called Retirement Funds.
If you owe money someone and cannot afford to pay back, you become a slave to the master.
Therefore, if China decided to cash all their Treachery Bills today, the USA would go bust. Because its commercial banks would not come up with such money to bail out the US government.
LT Source please???
Three weeks ago when the Lazy Bum issued his usual statements on the airport tarmac or was it abroad that many investors were interested and would take over in no time I did say no one would touch KCM with ongoing court issues…only a Chink State company would be interested. A Chinese State company is worse than an Indian company because the Chinks will use their own supply chain, own labour from Chink Prisons, own managers whose qualifications you can not verify like those Project Managers. This why I said Press conferences are paramount at State House as it just reinforces what everyone was alluding to …its no wonder Kaizer is now in CB and the resigning of Amos because he was working with KCM has some truth in it.
Electricity and Copper are the next big things replacing oil so China is placing herself where She should be period. O poor and foolish Zambians put on your big goggles and see the future!
How China is set to dominate the next Industrial Revolution – GWEN KERAVAL (Mining the Future, May 2019)
A fight between the United States and China is brewing over 5G and the question of who can be trusted to control the world’s wireless infrastructure. But scant attention is being paid to an issue of arguably greater importance to the future of the world’s economy and security: China’s control of the raw materials necessary to the digital economy. No new phone, tablet, car, or satellite transferring your data at lightning speed can be made without certain minerals and metals that are buried in a surprisingly small number of countries, and for which few commonly found substitutes are available. Operating in niche markets with limited transparency and often in politically unstable…
countries, Chinese firms have locked up supplies of these minerals and metals with a combination of state-directed investment and state-backed capital, making long-term strategic plays, sometimes at a loss.
Again we have come at a crossroads a chance to take over management of our resources as can be seen from the above analysis from Mining in Future website BUT again our visionless leaders are letting us down; all they can think of is who to auction to and what they themselves can benefit from it, provision of casual jobs for unskilled workforce. Why are we cursed with such leadership…I mean a man like Lungu would never be employed to lead by any company but we put him as our CEO…really laughable.
KCM is the Chinese’s to lose. They hv Lungu’s govt exactly where they want it to be. Whn u borrow money recklessly u lose bargaining leverage. This country has no foreign policy establishment. Even if it was there, its recommendations wouldn’t be respected.
No way, if this is true Zambians should take to the streets and protest, enough is enough. Zambians wake up your lives and the future of your children are at stake
Sad thing with Chink State Company taking over is that they will abuse you with immunity as no one will have the balls to bully them I mean what can you say to someone who you owe $10 billion…at least the Indians were scared of bad publicity and were registered on London Stock Exchange you could sue them in English courts.
USA debt is 22 trillion, how do u come with 33 trillion?us debt are not secret, most of the us big banks,namely bank of America, chase,wells Fargo and Citi bank is where Saudis have put their money,totally to $7 trillion. USA owes China 3.5 trillion which the state of California can offset,
Planzo 2.2
California State cannot offload the balance. California State is bankrupt living on borrowed. what are you talking about.
Arnold Schwarzenegger left that state in heavy debt, which it has spent paying off.
There is extra funds that have come from China funding USA Projects beside the treasury bill china holds. Look at the Compound Debt. Contact the USA Office of Budget Control. They will send you the figures.
CNMC is not Chinese government but a privately owned company by the Chinese. Zambia owes money to china govt and the story of loan should t be used to substantiate China’s kcm take over. Zambia did not sign for those loans using assets as collateral. Stop fooling yourselves.
This is really sad and the you wonder how the Chinese can write off a loan for nothing.
That is free money to PF officials…they are selling you out and they do not care as they know you are docile!!
China temunobe, I still remember Kalengwa Mine
IT IS REALLY VERY HURTING TO SEE HOW WE HAVE FAILED TO RUN EVEN ONE MINE!! All these so called Investors are fighting for this mines because of its value and future proceeds which will climb in leaps and bounds and as copper and cobalt prices jump to astronomical levels in the near future due to rise in use of electric cars!! YET OUR LEADERS ARE MORE FOCUSSED ON A QUICK BUCK FOR THEIR POCKETS INSTEAD OF JUST TAKING OVER THIS MINE AND RUN IT OR AT LEAST AS A JOINT VENTURE!! SUPRISINGLY,UNION LEADERS, CHURCH, MANY VOCAL NGOs AND OTHER INTEREST GROUPS INCLUDING OPPOSITION POLITICAL PARTIES HAVE FAILED TO UNITE AND DEMAND TRANSPARENCY ON THIS ISSUE! ONE WONDERS WHY??
When the opposition do voice out, you call them BITER. So deal with it.
If Zambians were not fully benifiting from KCM , i always said it will make sense for the Chinese to come in and writeoff some of the debt while maintaining current production and employment levels…..it also makes sense since the copper will go straight to China , no need to pass through international markets where it can subject to Vendeta court orders…..
To really be sure if the Chinese will run the mine without problems, better you ask those who already who employed on the other mine in chambeshi.
They are the best to tell us and not politicians because all they do is to frustrate anyone in power.
Don’t just depend on the Chinese but see if you can find a better investor.
Better investor? Kindly point from where that investor will hail from. China is clearly the wealthiest among the alternatives you might consider. There is a saying that, “people will treat you the way you treat yourself.” My Point being that complaints around Chinese labor conditions are unfounded because our own labor conditions are equally bad. How do you let civil servants go months without wages? What message are you sending to the investor? Compare with how Chinese treat workers in other countries who value their own workers even there in the UK ba huawei any Chinese multinational.
This is good news. Chinese should take over as soon as possible. I hate it when f00ls say they prefer Canadian & Australian companies because apart from arm twisting our government, most of these companies target profit projections and when they are done, we have to look for new investors.
Nationalize it and get in investors who are serious.
Vedanta will sell its shares in KCM at the Right Price. If Vedanta recoups its Investment in KCM at a Premium then they will happily disinvest from Zambia. The International o Court will do some Justice to Vedanta. Vedanta can expect hefty Compensation and Damages from the New KCM owners.
And you think new owners are the ones to pay for damages …its coming out from your PAYE!!!
KCM will be part payment for the huge sums of money that Zambia owes china. In the long run zambians will own nothing but the shirts on their backs, which also have been made in china. All this downhill trend started with the privatisation policies under the mmd administration. I have heard people say president chiluba made it possible for me to buy a house…. Soon that land where the house is built will be on Chinese soil… What a damn shame for future Zambian generations, they will own nothing but phones and t.vs made in china
If the Chinese takes over the running of KCM Mine then i will agree to what people are saying about us Zambians that we have sold our souls to the Chinese.
We told you! China can’t just write off a loan like that, that was down payment for KCM.
You can’t rule out the Chinese on the basis of stereotype. The Chinese have created an artificial sun and moon meaning they’ve nearly all of the world’s energy in their backyard. It also means they’re capable of controlling and altering the earth’s weather patterns at will. Chinese are in control and we can only make sense by protesting with strong objectivity than street sentiment
Arbitration can settle a dispute, but it does not stop liquidation or receivership. Therefore we are just waiting for the court to decide, and NOT a foreign Arbitrator, to liquidate KCM. Ali mucibe Vendetta wenu uyu!
This always makes a sad reading where we can not take full control of our God given resources and always looking to someone to provide leadership when it comes to the management of state assets? I still feel we able to manage through partnerships with the foreign investors especially if we can maintain a good percentage when it comes to shares .However this is not for Politics as usual no whether you pretend to be enjoying or not neither is it the issue of our president nor the opposition but the issue is for you as a Zambian what should be our mind set to free our selves from losing our sovereignty.
(1) the will to change
(2) selfless leadership were we differentiate our personal needs to that of the national development
(3)sacrifice, we learn to postpone today’s gratifications…
pipo are busy sayinng bad things about china, the devil you know is better than the an seen angel, go to chambishi and ask if one will tell you that they missed a month without pay? leave commutation is there, they do access loans from banks, education loan is there, but pipo busy saying bad things, at Vedanta nothing is there no loans, no commutation, no access of loans from banks, no promotion in short just salary is at Vedanta. so pliz if china has enough money let him come, pay the employees their benefits and start afresh.
if i may ask, where do auto-shops dealers get their spare parts? who among them can say that he /she gets spares parts from Canada, Russia and so on? i guess no one, chinese dont complain when copper price drops but the rest do complain, we are fide-up with complainants, no saary increament copper price is low year in year out awe, pliz responsible officials do what is right for us, as KCM employees, dont listen to politics do what is good for Chingola town.thank you
You can not run away from truth. It will take over 500 years to come out of this mess (if we shall) we created when we privatized companies in the name of revamping them.
We got it all wrong when we privatized!!!
CK4life privatization is a good thing the only issue is bad leadership like what we have now who instead of improving the economy they mess it up. Private companies thrive when the economy is good not when it’s bad. Imagine small businesses are barely making it what more of the big ones. Fix the economy first investors won’t do that for you, see how u messed up agriculture, healthcare even energy sector with so much load shedding