ZAMBIA: Zambia's mining sector gets a boost with the latest copper extraction equipment

Record ID: 455709

  • Title: ZAMBIA: Zambia's mining sector gets a boost with the latest copper extraction equipment
  • Date: 12th September 2007
  • Summary: (DAY SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) LUSAKA RESIDENT, FRANK NG'AMBI, SAYING: "It's a right step for the mines that will have more especially finished products from our copper. We want our copper to be processed to a good extent within this country so that at least as it leaves, it has good value added to it."
  • Embargoed: 27th September 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Zambia
  • Country: Zambia
  • Topics: Economic News
  • Reuters ID: LVABQ36GCN0Y158U99SKR5A8EKY1
  • Story Text: Rising global metal prices have seen mining companies in Zambia reinvesting heavily into the sector. Western donors have praised Zambia's economic performance. Inflation fell into single-digits in April 2006 for the first time in three decades and sustained economic growth has averaged five percent in the last six years.
    Copper mining is Zambia's economic lifeblood and the vast copper and cobalt mines are a major employer in this southern Africa country of almost 12 million people.
    Zambia's Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) produces about 200,000 tonnes of copper every year, which is nearly half Zambia's total copper output.
    Apart from investing in processing, KCM, which is majority-owned by London-based Vedanta Resources Plc, is sinking shafts at a new deep-level mine, which together with other projects will more than double finished copper output by 2010.
    As part of its expansion plans, the company recently imported a massive copper cold box, which will be used in the mines to separate pure oxygen from air in order to aid the separation of copper from ore.
    But the logistical challenges of transporting the 140-tonne apparatus the 400 kilometres to the mines turned the delivery of the cold box into a public spectacle.
    Traffic came to a standstill in the capital Lusaka as a truck with three drivers and 160 wheels came through carrying the cold box. The truck was travelling at 20 kilometres per hour.
    The country's Road Development Agency (RDA) was called in to ensure that the heavy load did not cause damage to any infrastructure en route.
    Workers from the RDA helped to lift electricity cables out of the way so that the truck could pass underneath.
    "The transporter so far from the time they entered Zambia, they have had a safe passage. We have not noticed any immediate damage to our road and to the bridge infrastructure so far. So I think we are happy because our concern is to preserve the road asset," said Loyce Saili, head of public relations at the RDA.
    But it wasn't just the unusual sight of the huge truck that residents of Lusaka came to see.
    "It's a right step for the mines that will have more especially finished products from our copper. We want our copper to be processed to a good extent within this country so that at least as it leaves, it has good value added to it," said Frank Ng'ambi, who watched the truck pass through.
    Other spectators were equally encouraged by the economic boost the equipment could offer the country.
    "At least we can export a finished product for the first time. If we can do that, I think we are going to make people very happy," said Perce Tasyali, another resident of Lusaka who showed up to see the truck.
    But analysts say the country does not reap enough benefits because the mines are owned by foreigners. Most of Zambia's big copper mines are majority-owned by foreign firms, with the government holding no more than a 14 percent stake in any one venture, breeding resentment among mine workers and ordinary labourers.
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