Zambians should appreciate Chinese investors as they have resolved to continue operating mines and maintaining their workforce amid threats of retrenchment by others in the sector, Mines and Minerals Development Minister, Maxwell Mwale, has said.
Mr Mwale said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that people should stop demonising the Chinese investors because they were doing a lot to help maintain stability in the country.
He said despite the prevailing global economic conditions which had adversely affected the local industries, the Chinese investors were resolved to continue operating without resorting to the reduction of the workforce.
“People should stop demonising the Chinese investors. They should observe that at all mines which are being run by the Chinese, there are no reductions of employees as opposed to others,” he said.
Mr Mwale said while big economies like the United States of America were running to China for bailout of their operations, some Zambians were busy “insulting” Chinese investors.
He said the Chinese investors had, for instance, re-capitalised and continued running the Chambishi Copper Mine in Kalulushi, which had been on care and maintenance for 14 years.
He said Zambia needed to attract investors like those from China who already had the money because it would be almost impossible for a company to borrow huge amounts such as US$600 million.
Mr Mwale said while others like Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) wanted to place some of the mines under the care-and-maintenance system, the Chinese had continued operating.
He said the Government would not allow further offloading of miners from employment as it had a duty to ensure socio-economic stability in the country.
Mr Mwale said the move by MCM to place some of its mining units in Kitwe and Mufulira under the care-and-maintenance arrangement would result in the loss of up to 20,000 jobs considering even the people employed by contractors.
He reiterated his challenge to the MCM and any other investors who would not want to continue operating some of the mining plants to voluntarily surrender them to the Government.
He said the precedent to voluntarily surrender the mines when an investor felt like not continuing had already been set when Anglo-American Corporation (AAC) did so with the Konkola Copper Mines about seven years ago.
On the Luanshya Copper Mines (LCM), Mr Mwale said there were a lot of investors who were interested in running the mine as soon as the current negotiations between the Government and LCM management were over.
He said the Government would, however, ensure that it selected the most suitable investors to run the mines to avoid a repeat of what was currently happening.
He said the people of Luanshya had suffered enough.
“As you know, this is not the first time that the people of Luanshya are going through this situation,” he said.
And LCM management has dismissed reports that the mine in Luanshya has been stripped of its assets and is flooded.
LCM chief executive officer, Derek Webbstock, said in a Press statement that management of LCM was saddened by reports of asset stripping and flooding of the mine.
Mr Webbstock assured the nation that the mine would not be flooded or be stripped of its assets.
Mr Webbstock said it was the intention of management to ensure that the care-and-maintenance process protected the assets of LCM and allowed for efficient resumption of operations at an appropriate time.
The statement further says management had retained 227 security staff, 123 hospital staff, 36 Luanshya Trust School staff, 10 staff at Luanshya Craft School and 67 were directly at the main mine operations.
[Times of Zambia]
