Message Mer 7 Déc 2011 15:06

Mopani to secure 3000 jobs

Mopani Copper Mines has completed constructing its 320-million United States-dollar Synclinorium shaft, a project that will extend the life of operations at the Mine in Kitwe by twenty-five years.

Mopani Copper Mines Chief Executive Danny Callow described the achievement as a milestone that will secure three-thousand jobs.

The new shaft will boost ore production at the Nkana mines more than five-million tons a year by 2018, from the current three-point-four-million tons a year.

Mopani currently employees 16,640 as staff and contractors, and the Synclinorium shaft project is also expected to create approximately 500 construction jobs.

Mr. Callow says a shaft collar protects the entrance to a mine shaft and allows further excavation of the shaft to begin.

He said in a statement to ZNBC News in Kitwe that the Synclinorium shaft project is one of the largest and deepest mining construction projects currently underway in Zambia.

The Synclinorium project involves the construction of a seven-metre diameter main shaft and a six metre diameter ventilation shaft to a depth of 1,277 metres, providing Mopani with access to some 115 million tonnes of copper and cobalt ore.

Journalists in the country have been challenged to highlight concepts of competition and consumer protection in their reporting.

Competition and Consumer Protection Commission Executive Director Chilufya Sampa said Journalists must champion this so that laws are NOT violated.

Mr. Sampa gave the challenge in Choma today when he officially opened a two day sensitization workshop for Journalists organized by the commission.

He says there are many restrictive business practices and consumer rights violations which go without being reported.

Mr. Sampa further urged Journalists to help re-ignite consumer interest in seeking redress where service delivery is inadequate.

He notes that the competition and consumer protection act number 24 of 2010 has progressive and adequate provisions for consumers to seek redress.

Journalists from both private and public media institutions across the country are taking part in the workshop.