Administrateur du site
Messages: 4394
Inscription: Jeu 30 Juil 2009 16:48
Localisation: la seyne sur mer
Zambia KCM Says Outsourcing Labor To Boost Efficiency, Cut
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Zambia's largest copper miner by output, Konkola Copper Mines, is implementing strategies including out-sourcing labor for key activities across its mining and processing operations to improve efficiency and reduce costs, a company spokesman has said.
Despite the better global economic situation, KCM continues to face operational challenges and is looking at ways of optimizing the available resources, to attain maximum efficiency, so as to remain viable, spokesman Rahul Kharkar said late Tuesday.
"The effects of the global credit crunch on the operations are still potent and despite improvements in the price of copper...a sudden collapse of the copper prices would place the company in a highly vulnerable situation," he said in a statement.
Last week, union representatives met with KCM management over the decision to outsource labor at its Nchanga Smelter which is expected to affect at least 170 miners. Union representatives later criticized the management for not considering the welfare of miners.
However, according to Kharkar, outsourcing is not intended to make miners lose jobs but to ensure that KCM remains competitive globally.
"This decision is critical to KCM's survival, given the volatility of the metals market. The nation learnt this from the 2008 experience when a crash in the copper price...led to a discharge of thousands of jobs" he said.
According to Kharkar, outsourcing has already enabled KCM to extend the lifespan of Nchanga Open pit by 10 years. The pit was at risk of closure since the late 1990s due to aged equipment and low investment in exploration.
KCM, a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources PLC (VED.LN) has invested at least $1.5 billion since 2004 in its operations in Zambia and is on course to produce 500,000 metric tons of copper by 2012 up from the current 305,000 tons.
-By Nicholas Bariyo, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires
Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market ... z0vckn47y1