The Chipata Subordinate Court has sentenced a 63 years old farmer of Chipata City for unlawful wounding of a minor contrary to Section 232(a)of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia.

This follows submission of the particulars of case by Public Prosecutor (PP) Yvonne Nachande before Resident Magistrate (RM) Destiny Kalusopa.

Particulars of the case presented are that between June 02,2022 and June 31,2022,Nkwizima Phiri used a razor blade to put traditional tattoos locally known as Ndembo on an 11 year old boy without the consent of his parents.

Evidence presented before the court is that Tilifonia Banda, the mother to the minor, noticed the tattoos on her son’s body after examining him when he became sick.

“My son became sick and started vomiting blackish things. I examined his body and noticed tattoos [ndembo] on both his hands that is in between his fingers and on both his elbows, “she said.

Banda said after a further inspection on her son’s body, she noticed that both his legs had also been tattooed.

She immediately informed her husband about her son’s condition and the tattoos she had found on his body.

Her son had not opened up to her when asked who had tattooed him but only disclosed after his father questioned him.

She said that her son mentioned Phiri as the one that had tattooed him while he was herding cattle with the friend.

The Court heard that Phiri tattooed the minor after convincing him and the friend that he had medicine to make them strong  for them not lose any fights.

Banda said Phiri even requested that her son be giving him eggs as payment.

The Court further heard  that Phiri  warned the minors  never to disclose what he had done to him to their parents should they do, they will die.
Banda said the matter was reported to Chipata Central Police and after thorough investigations, Phiri was arrested on July 08,2022.

The Court also received a medical report from Chipata Central Hospital after a medical examination was conducted on the minor.

During cross-examination, Phiri pleaded guilty with the charge after an initial plea of not guilty.

Passing judgement,  the accused was sentenced to five years imprisonment with hard labour.

RM Kalusopa said what the accused[Phiri] did was very unknown and tantamount to killing the victim.

“This child will remain with the permanent scars on his body which is unfair because he was not with such tattoos on his body, “he said.

President Hakainde Hichilema is tomorrow scheduled to undertake a two day State Visit to the United Republic of Tanzania, following an invitation from the country’s President Samia Hassan.

Whilst in the neighbouring county, President Hichilema  is expected to hold bilateral talks focusing on areas of mutual interest aimed at enhancing trade, investment and infrastructure development among others, as well as discussions on the revamping, capitalization and operationalization of the Tanzania Zambia Railways TAZARA.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Stanely Kakubo has confirmed in a statement saying the state visit is significant as Tanzania is a strategic partner for the country in terms of transportation in the Southern Region for freight and passengers through the Eastern African seaport of Dar-es-Salaam.

“This Visit is highly significant as Tanzania remains a strategic partner as a link for transportation in the southern region for both freight and passengers through the eastern African seaport of Dar-es-Salaam. To this end, during the Visit, President Hichilema and President Hassan will hold bilateral talks where discussions will focus on areas of mutual interest aimed at enhancing trade, investment and infrastructure development, among others” Mr. Kakubo said.

The Tanzania-Zambia Mafuta TAZAMA Pipelines Limited, and the Nakonde-Tunduma One Stop Border Post ( OSBP )  will also be an area of discussion and focus and that the President will tour the Dar-es-Salaam Port, Dar-es-Salaam Standard Main Gauge Railway Station, TAZAMA Pipelines Limited and TAZARA.

The Minister further disclosed in the same statement that the two Presidents will also preside over the signing of Memoranda of understanding ( MOU )  in the fields of defense and tourism.

Mr. Kakubo expressed hope that President Hichilema’s visit will strengthen the ties between the two sister countries that have existed for many years for the benefit of the people of Zambia.

“The President is of the firm belief that increased collaboration through trade and investment and beneficial joint ventures at regional and continental levels will provide the necessary building blocks and opportunities that are crucial to ensuring improved livelihoods and integral economic transformation.

“ Therefore, it is hoped that President Hichilema’s visit to Tanzania will provide for the firming of the longstanding ties between the two sister countries and unlock the much needed economic opportunities that will yield tangible benefits to the people of Zambia” he added.

President Hichilema is expected to return to Zambia immediately after his engagements.

Local Government Service Commission Chairperson Ackson Sejani says the Commission has given time to Lusaka City Council workers that do not have qualification to rewrite their Grade 12.

Mr Sejani  says about 53 workers were found without full Grade 12 certificates in the Audit conducted by the Commission.

He desclosed that  if the affected staff do not rewrite as soon as possible, they will be removed from their positions.

Mr Sejani said this is being done in accordance with the law that requires that division One to three should poses the required qualifications.

And, Lusaka City Council Public Relations Manager Chola Mwamba says the council will ensure that all the 500 division four employees whose contracts have been terminated are paid soon.

Ms. Mwamba, however disclosed that the workers had entered into a verbal contract with the local authority that can be terminated at any time.

Last month, the Commission Chairperson Ackson Sejani said that the Lusaka City Council has 1 224 divisions, and 1 to 3 staff in the register and that 41 extra staff are on the payroll but do not appear in the register.

Mr. Sejani disclosed that the audit revealed that 1 171 employees have requisite qualifications, while 53 do not have the qualifications as required by law.

He said 46 out of the 53 members of staff are holding senior management positions.

Mr. Sejani said the audit also showed that 7 members of staff do not have Grade 12 certificates and further said the council employed 331 officers in division 3 as cashiers and revenue collectors illegally without approval by the Commission.

Mr. Sejani said the Commission also found that over 100 employees have not been confirmed for as long as 17 years but are fully qualified.

He said 18 officers are currently on suspension, while 40 went on study leave

Agriculture Minister Reuben Mtolo has urged farmers in North-Western Province to increase the production of fruits to meet the capacity of the newly commissioned fruit processing factory in Mwinilunga District.

Mr Mtolo said in an interview that, farmers should take advantage of the factory to grow various fruits as the facility is able to process different types of fruits.

Mr Mtolo says the Kalene Hills Fruit Processing Factory that has been set up by the Industrial Development Corporation -IDC-, will also help to enhance value addition to fruits hence contributing to the growth of the fruit industry as it provides farmers with a ready market.

He has further challenged private investors to emulate IDC and invest in similar ventures around the country, and be able to contribute to the country’s economy growth.

Last week President Hakainde Hichilema commissioned the  the K130 million multi fruit processing Kalene Hills Fruit Factory in Mwinilunga district.

The fruit plant is 100 percent Zambian-owned business being developed by IDC.

The plant will process a variety of fruits and Other farm produce such as beans, groundnuts and tomatoes using small scale farmers as suppliers. Basically there will be value addition.

This smart investment will contribute to changing the economic face of Mwinilunga, the North Western Province and Zambia at large.

Copper could rival oil as a national energy security concern for some countries.

Mining.com reports that in 2021, global electric vehicle sales hit 6.6 million – more than double the 3 million in sales in 2020 — meaning EVs made up 9% of the global car market last year.

That’s the good news, from a decarbonization standpoint.

Here’s the bad news. Just as it begins to gain momentum, the electrification of transportation could begin stalling as early as mid-decade.

Starting around 2025, demand for key battery metals could start exceeding supply, adding costs to EV battery manufacturing, and putting the brakes on EV adoption, according to a new detailed analysis by S&P Global, The Future of Copper.

In fact, car manufacturers are already facing supply chain constraints for certain key metals, and are already resorting to substitution materials.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) announced this week it will switch to lower performance batteries for some of its EV vehicles, a move aimed at meeting production goals while addressing nickel supply issues. For some standard EV models, Ford will use lithium-iron-sulphate batteries, which don’t require nickel or cobalt.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warns a lithium shortage could start around 2025.

There was enough lithium mined in 2021 to supply 11.4 million EVs, according to the World Economic Forum.

If EV sales double again over the next couple of years, the EV market will already exceed the current global supply of lithium, unless new mines and refiners come into production by then. Llithium prices are up 380% from a year ago, according to Kitco.

But it’s copper that is the biggest worry, with the biggest driver of scarcity being the energy transition and increased EV demand, although the demand for more power transmission will also add strain to the supply of copper.

“Major investments in the power grid to support electrification will further amplify the trend,” the Future of Copper report notes.

“The 2050 climate objectives will not be achieved without a significant ramp-up in copper production in the near and medium term, which will be very challenging,” the S&P Global report warns.

A battery electric vehicle requires 2.5 times more copper than a standard internal combustion engine vehicle. Much of that is in the electric motor, some in the battery.

There simply aren’t enough copper mines being built or expanded to provide all the copper needed to produce the 27 million EVs that S&P Global has forecast to be sold annually by 2030.

“The chronic gap between worldwide copper supply and demand projected to begin in the middle of this decade will have serious consequences across the global economy and will affect the timing of Net-Zero Emissions by 2050,” the Future of Copper report warns.

Copper could rival oil as a national energy security concern for some countries.

“In the 21st century, copper scarcity may emerge as a key destabilizing threat to international security,” the report warns.

Under what it calls the High Ambition Scenario, S&P Global forecasts refined copper production would nearly double, from 24.5 million tonnes in 2021 to more than 47 million tonnes in 2035.

That still wouldn’t be enough.

“This results in chronic shortfalls between copper and supply demand beginning in 2025 and lasting through most of the 2030s, including a shortfall of more than 1.5 (million tonnes) in 2035 alone.

“But this scenario hinges on very significant increases in both capacity utilization and recycling rates. High Ambition is a highly optimistic scenario. What this scenario demonstrates is that, even at the outer edge of what could happen in copper mining and refining operations, there will not be enough supply to meet the demand identified for Net-Zero Emissions by 2050.”

A more dire forecast, which the report calls the Rocky Road Scenario, is for an annual supply shortfall of almost 10 million tonnes in 2035.

That is equivalent to the production of 75 copper mines the size of B.C.’s Highland Valley Copper mine – Canada’s largest – said Michael Goehring, president of the Mining Association of BC.

“Projects under development today would likely not be sufficient to offset the projected shortfalls in copper supply, even if their permitting and construction were accelerated,” the Future of Copper report notes.

Some of the metals used in batteries may be able to be substituted – iron replacing nickel, for example, in lithium-iron-phosphate batteries – said Matthew Klippenstein, former adviser for Plug In BC, and current executive director for Hydrogen BC.

“And Iron is really plentiful,” he notes.

But there really is no substitution for copper in electric cars. It is needed for the batteries, the wiring and the motors. Even if aluminum can become a substitute for copper, as has been suggested, that would just shift the need for more copper mining to more more bauxite mining and aluminum smelters.

Conservationists opposed to new copper or lithium mines may point to recycling as a solution. It’s not.

While a recycling and reuse industry for EV batteries will be needed, it won’t come anywhere close to supplying the necessary metals.

If the number of EVs on the road today remained static for the next 20 years, recycling the metals in them might be able to make up the bulk of the demand. But EV sales are growing exponentially.

There were 3 million electric cars sold globally in 2020, according to the IEA. That more than doubled in 2021 to 6.6 million. By 2030, S&P Global forecasts there will be nearly 27 million sold annually.

Assuming a battery life of 10 years (some may last as long as 20 years), even if every one of the 3 million batteries and motors sold in EVs in 2020 were to be recycled, that would provide only 11% of the metals needed in 2030 for 27 million electric cars.

The IEA estimates that recycling could meet only about 10% of the demand for battery materials in 2040.

Edward Chiang, CEO of B.C.’s Moment Energy, which repurposes EV batteries for use in stationary power storage, said there are serious challenges to EV battery recycling, mainly the cost, which is why his company repurposes them, rather than recycle the metals in them.

“Currently recycling (an EV battery) is an expensive process where North Americans are footing the bill,” Chiang said. “That’s why they’re charging people thousands of dollars for recycling. That’s why the stat is only 5% of all EV batteries are being recycled.”

The biggest market for used EV batteries may be in repurposing them in stationary storage applications, not recycling, according to McKinsey and Co.

An EV battery that is at 80% capacity may no longer be suitable for an electric car, but when they are stacked for stationary power storage, they are still perfectly useable and can last many more years.

“Reuse can provide the most value in markets where there is demand for batteries for stationary energy-storage applications that require less-frequent battery cycling,” says a McKinsey report from 2019.

“The math does not add up,” Chiang said. “Recycling is not the solution to EV demand. It’s going to help – 10%, 20% of the demand — but it’s not going to solve it. We’re still going to have to open up more mines and do better in refining clean processes to meet our EV production targets.”

While there is enough copper in the world, geologically speaking, to supply the increased demand, there isn’t enough time.

It takes 10 to 15 years to get a new copper mine through permitting and construction. Twenty years is not unusual for very large projects.

Goehring said B.C. has “significant potential” to increase copper production, and there are a couple of expansions, and two new mine proposals, in the pipeline.

B.C. is Canada’s biggest copper producer. But Canada is a minor producer compared to Chile, Peru, China and the U.S.

Canada’s total copper production was estimated at 475,898 tonnes in 2020, according to Natural Resources Canada, half of it from B.C. Chile’s is about 5.5 million tonnes annually, Peru 2.5 million tonnes, China 1.5 million tonnes.

Judging by the recent political tide shift in Chile, copper mining there could become more restricted. Chile’s new president, Gabriel Boric, has been busy in recent months rejecting new copper mines and expansions. Anglo American alone has had two copper mine expansions rejected just in the last couple of months.

In B.C., there are currently two mine expansion proposals that are close to having final investments decisions made, Goehring said – Highland Valley Copper and Red Chris — and two proposed new mines: the KSM gold-copper mine and the Galore Creek copper mine.

Whether they can be permitted and built in time to help address the looming copper crunch remains to be seen.

“Senior policymakers need to focus significant amount of attention on this,” Goehring said. “A credible and robust climate strategy needs to incorporate the supply side of critical metals.”

Source: Mining.com visit the site at https://www.mining.com/

World Bank Group President David Malpass has however urged the Creditor Committee to reach a quick agreement on the specifics of deep debt relief for Zambia.

According to a statement released to the media last , the move is in line with the upper-credit-tranche program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the joint World Bank-IMF Debt Sustainability Assessment.

“I very much welcome today’s announcement as an important step toward reducing Zambia’s debt, significant debt relief is needed to secure long-term debt sustainability and attract the investment necessary for growth and poverty reduction.

“ I urge official bilateral and private sector creditors to participate on comparable terms, granting Zambia a substantial net-present-value reduction in debt, ” he said

The W.B expects commercial creditors to promptly agree on a comparable debt treatment for Zambia that would achieve debt sustainability over the medium term as well as a common discount rate be utilized in measuring the debt relief provided by bilateral and commercial creditors to ensure comparability of treatment.

Zambia needs a timely debt resolution, without which all the developmental gains achieved in the last two decades may continue to be wiped out and that the country may continue experiencing a decline in its per capita Income, which led to its recent re-classification as a low income country for the first time since 2012.

“In 2021, Zambia’s per capita income declined to $1,040 and the country was re-classified as low-income for the first time since 2011. This follows several years of decline in Zambia’s GNI per capita, starting with $1,440 in 2018.

“ With the economy further weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic, 60 percent of the Zambian population lived on less than $1.90 a day in 2021. Without a timely debt resolution, this trend will continue to wipe out the development gains that Zambia achieved in the past two decades, ” World Bank Group President.

Reveling that his global Bank provides large net positive flows to Zambia to boost sustainable growth and poverty reduction , Mr Malpass disclosed plans to support Zambia with new financing of over US$2 billion in the form of concessional loans through to 2032.

This includes financing for investment projects in agriculture, education, energy, health, and social safety nets as well as policy-based lending in support of the structural reforms that the Zambian government is implementing.

The said programs would add to the over US$520 million in fresh financing committed by the World Bank to Zambia in the last fiscal year.

“ The World Bank is working closely with the IMF, the G20, and the Creditor Committee to support the Common Framework process as a path to long-term debt sustainability, restoring macroeconomic and debt sustainability, strengthening governance, and promoting private-sector-led inclusive growth are critical areas of our work with the Zambian government and that The World Bank is determined to support the Common Framework and the Zambian authorities in these endeavors, “ concludes Mr Malpass.