Collum mine re-opens

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Message Ven 3 Avr 2015 11:38

Collum mine re-opens

MACKSON WASAMUNU, Lusaka
GOVERNMENT has reinstated the Collum Coal Mine licence and issued the colliery with a large-scale operations permit, a decision that is expected to save over 600 jobs and create an additional 200.
And Collum Coal Mining Industries Limited has appointed Lusaka businessman Suzyo Nyika as board chairman of the Sinazongwe-based mine in Southern Province.
The mining company has since been directed to ensure strict adherence to safety, health and environmental standards as it resumes operations early this month.
In a letter dated March 30 this year addressed to Mr Nyika and copied to the Minister of Mines, Energy and Water Development, Geological Survey department and head of mining cadastre, director of mines development Mooya Lumamba informed the company that a decision had been made to reinstate the cancelled licence.
Mr Lumamba advised the company’s new management team in liaison with the Mines Safety Department to conduct a thorough audit of the mine and come up with a checklist of activities that need to be undertaken to ensure adherence to all mining regulations.
“The Mines Safety department shall also develop new guidelines on safety, health and environmental standards that you will be expected to adhere to. Please contact ZCCM-IH over the matter and ensure a smooth handover of the management of the mine,” Mr Lumamba states in the letter.
This follows Collum Coal Mining Industries’ successful appeal to President Lungu over its cancelled licence.
The 12,000 tonnes per annum producer of the heating substance chiefly used by the mines for production of various metals was shut down in February 2013.
Among concerns at the mine were alleged flouting of labour laws, poor safety and sanitary record at place of work and failure to remit taxes.
The mining licence was cancelled due to a number of unresolved disputes involving owners of the mine and the workers.
Collum Coal Mine director Xu Jianglin has announced that the mining company had appointed Mr Nyika and hopes all stakeholders will give him and his team support as they endeavor to resume operations and contribute to the economy of Sinazongwe and Zambia as a whole.
“We hope the new chairman will be given all the support by stakeholders to steer the mine to progress that will impact the people of Sinazongwe positively,” Mr Xu said.
In October 2010, two Chinese supervisors allegedly shot at protesting workers and injured 11 of them. The two supervisors were arrested and charged with appropriate offences but the matter was discontinued in the courts of law through a nolle prosequi.
In 2006, the then provincial minister Alice Simango openly wept after seeing miners during a tour of the mine emerge semi-naked and barefoot from the tunnel.
Ms Simango, who was blocked from entering the mine by the mine owners, later recommended that it be closed to protect human life.
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Inscription: Jeu 14 Mai 2009 16:23

Message Lun 27 Avr 2015 16:48

Controversial Collum Coal Mine to re-open in Zambia

Controversial Collum Coal Mine to re-open in Zambia
20 April 2015

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China's Collum Coal Mining Industries is restarting operations this week at its controversial mine in Zambia.
Collum coal mine was seized and placed under care and maintenance by the Zambian Government in 2013 citing safety lapses, and all three licences held by the company were revoked.
The mine, which currently has the potential to produce 12,000t of coal a month, supplies fuel to Zambia's copper and cobalt mines and is expected to employ more than 1,000 workers when operational.
Zambia's decision to return the mine to the company's control comes after Collum assured the government it will enforce proper measures for improvements.
"The company plans to renovate the mine's facilities over the next four years with a $40m investment."
Media sources cited Collum Coal Mining Industries general manager Xu Jain Xue as saying that the company plans to renovate the mine's facilities over the next four years with a $40m investment.
Upon completion of renovation works, the company aims to increase its existing coal production capacity to more than 40,000t, Lusakatimes reported.
Zambia President Edgar Lungu said if the government finds no improvement in operations at the mine it may again be closed.
Lungu also instructed the Ministry of Mines to ensure that safety is guaranteed at the mine prior to commencing operations.
Zambian Mining Minister Yamfwa Mukanga said the licences were previously revoked due to poor safety, health and environmental records, and a lack of approved personal protective equipment for employees.
Collum Coal Mine also failed to provide emergency medical treatment facilities underground and did not declare the quantity of coal it was producing.

http://www.mining-technology.com/news/n ... ia-4557624
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Message Lun 27 Avr 2015 16:51

Zambia Reopens Chinese-owned Collum Coal Mine

Zambia Reopens Chinese-owned Collum Coal Mine
By Dow Jones Business News, April 17, 2015, 07:15:00 AM EDT AAA


KAMPALA Uganda--Zambia's Chinese-owned Collum Coal Mining Industries is set to resume mining operations ending a nearly three-year closure after management promised to improve safety measures at the troubled mine, the Zambian presidency said Friday.


The country's second largest coal mine by output will resume operations early next week, days after the government restored its mining license capping months of back and forth negotiations over the mine's safety and environmental measures, Amos Chanda, a spokesman for the presidency, said.

Until 2012, Collum Coal Mine was a major supplier of coal to Zambia's vast copper and cobalt mines. Its reopening will help ease the supply woes of many copper miners and end the over-reliance on the more expensive imported coal. The development also underscores a thaw in relations between government and Chinese investors after years of conflicts over the mine's alleged poor safety, health and environmental record.


"The government decided to give back the mine to the Chinese firm after assurance that necessary measures have been taken to improve the operations," Mr. Chanda said.

In 2010, Chinese managers shot at least 13 striking workers at the mine, drawing the ire of government, rights activists and union officials. In 2012, rioting miners killed a Chinese supervisor and injured two others during a wage protest at Collum.

The government revoked the mine's license shortly after, accusing management of flouting the country's safety laws at the mine.

Zambian President Edgar Lungu returned from a week-long visit to China earlier this month, where he met with President Xi Jingping and several other government officials.

Xu Jain Xue, general manager of Collum Coal Mining Industries, told Zambia state television that his company plans to invest $40 million to revamp the mine's facilities over the next four years.

Chinese investors have pumped more than $2 billion into Zambia's mining industry over the past five years and China is now one of Zambia's largest trading partners. But accusations of poor labor and safety policies against Chinese-owned enterprises have in recent years threatened to strain relations between Beijing and Lusaka, posing a danger to Chinese investments.

Mr. Lungu, who visited the coal mine on Thursday, said that the "government would not hesitate to close the mine once again if there is no improvement of operations."

Write to Nicholas Bariyo at nicholas.bariyo@wsj.com



(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-17-150715ET
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.


Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/zambia-re ... z3YWO6yUBa
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Message Lun 27 Avr 2015 16:54

Corruption motivated repossession of Collum mine

Corruption motivated repossession of Collum mine - Hachipuka By Abel Mboozi | Updated: 13 Apr,2015 ,15:23:07

EMMANUEL Hachipuka says the decision by government to repossess Collum Coal Mine and spend K16 million on idle workers is a clear manifestation of corruption by the PF administration.

And Hachipuka, who once served as ZCCM-IH chief executive, has challenged finance minister Alexander Chikwanda to direct ZCCM-IH to cancel its legal consultancy services contract with John Kaite Legal Practitioners to save public funds from being abused as exposed by the Public Accounts Committee.

Commenting on revelations by acting mines permanent secretary Paul Chanda who on Tuesday told the PAC that the government spent K16 million to pay salaries for Collum workers when the Sinazeze-based mine was placed under care and maintenance, Hachipuka said corruption motivated the actions of the state.

In February 2013, then mines minister Yamfwa Mukanga announced that the government had cancelled Collum Coal Mining’s licences and immediately took over operations of the troubled mine, through ZCCM-IH, while government sought an equity partner.

However, on Tuesday, Chanda told the PAC that the government had decided to give the mine back to the Chinese investors to run it after spending K16 million on workers that were doing nothing.

But Hachipuka said the government’s actions were a clear manifestation of corruption.

“Is it possible that you can repossess a mine from an investor and then you pay K16 million to workers that are not doing anything and send it back to them [investors]? That’s a clear case of corruption and there is no way you can run this country like this,” Hachipuka, who once chaired the PAC, said. “It’s improper, it’s wrong…there is no way the government could have repossessed the mine because for them to do that, again there must have been some cost benefit analysis done even if it was an economic decision. But for the government to spend K16 million and send it back to the same investor, how?”

Hachipuka said it was disheartening to see how the PF administration was running the nation’s affairs.

“Really, I think that we should not run our country like this, no. I feel very hurt about these kinds of decisions because these are public funds involved and we need every penny,” he said.

“Right now, why do you think the kwacha is depreciating at the rate it has been depreciating? These actions that we are taking as a country go a long way in undermining our governance system and someone must step in and do something about this.”

And Hachipuka said the decision by ZCCM-IH to award JKLP an K8.8 million contract for legal services after abolishing its legal department was a clear case of theft by public servant and law enforcement agencies must investigate the matter.

Chanda told the PAC that the ZCCM-IH board in 2011 abolished its legal department and contracted JKLP, a firm run by a former employee, to provide legal services to the tune of K8.8 million per annum, as opposed to the K907,000 the company used to spend to run the department.

He said the contract would only end in September next year, but Hachipuka said it should be cancelled immediately to save taxpayers’ money.

Hachipuka said it was common knowledge that ZCCM-IH conducted a cost-benefit analysis before it decided to abolish its legal department and wondered why it allowed public funds to be abused in that manner.

“For ZCCM-IH to spend K8.8 million against K907,000, it’s a clear manifestation that it was an inside job and whoever was making the decisions, meaning the chief executive officer, including the chairperson of the board and its members, should be impeached,” he said.

“There was no way that they could have gotten rid of the legal department in preference to employ a former worker and pay him that kind of money contrary to the cost-benefit analysis that could have been made available to them, to justify the firing of employees or the abolishment of the department. It’s not possible, under normal circumstances, for management and a board to make that decision.”

Hachipuka said the office of the Auditor General should have referred the matter to law enforcement agencies immediately after verifying since the PAC had no powers to deal with such abuses.

“Auditor General Anna Chifungula should have referred this matter to Anti Corruption Commission straightaway without really waiting for the audit to be completed. When you wait for the audit to be completed and go before the PAC, time will have been lost and money will have been spent. So during the audit itself, which is normally done after a year or two and by the time it comes to the PAC, it’s too late. They should have actually referred that matter to ACC or indeed the Drug Enforcement Commission or the police. That is a police matter because the PAC, which I used to chair, has no teeth to xxxx,” he said.

Hachipuka said the work of the PAC ended at making recommendations to the executive.

“By the time the PAC makes the recommendations to the executive or indeed to Parliament through to the executive, the bird would have flown out and money expended. Now they are saying they are bound by a contract up to 2016; they should cancel that contract,” said Hachipuka.

“The executive should step in and stop that contract. Indeed, even if the Auditor General has no powers to stop the contract, someone in the Ministry of Finance should direct ZCCM-IH to cancel that contract right away. It’s not something that they should wait for, and seriously the matter should be investigated because it is a clear case of theft by public servant.”

- See more at: http://www.postzambia.com/news.php?id=7 ... EkcmS.dpuf
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Message Lun 27 Avr 2015 17:11

Pres Lungu Officiates Collum Coal Mine

Pres Lungu Officiates Collum Coal Mine
Peter Adamu | April 16, 2015


Edgar ChomaPresident Edgar Lungu has today officially reopened Collum Coal Mine in Sinazongwe which was shut down in 2013 for breach of safety and labour laws.
Speaking during the reopening of the mine, President Lungu says the reopening of the mine will benefit many households as well as the nation.

He has, however, urged the mine management to make sure that all the safety measures are in place before production commences, adding that safety issues should also extend to the workers.

President Lungu said he has taken a personal risk by deciding to reopen the mine and that if anything goes wrong, it will be on him.
He has warned the mine management that if they do not cooperate, government will grab the mine again.

President Lungu has further urged the mine management to involve the people of Sinzongwe so that they feel the benefit.

And Column Coal Mine management has pledged to invest US$40 million dollars in the mine in four years.

Speaking earlier, Area Member of Parliament Richwell Siamunene says the opening of the mine will create jobs for the people of Zambia which in turn will contribute to national development.

Siamunene says he has no doubt that the mine will operate under the laid down rules and will not be harmful to the people but will benefit the people of Sinazongwe and the Zambians at large.

And speaking earlier when he paid a courtesy call on traditional leaders in Sinazongwe, President Lungu assured the traditional leaders that he will not be looking at the voting patterns in the January 20th presidential election in developing the country, but will touch all the needy areas.

President Lungu says he wants to uplift the lives of the people of Zambia who are still wallowing in poverty and lagging behind.

He stresses that he wants all Zambians to enjoy the basic necessities of life and feel that they belong to Zambia.

And speaking on behalf of the Southern province traditional leadership, Chief Chikanta of Kalomo district encouraged President Lungu to interact with traditional leaders in the country, stating that traditional leaders are partners in development.

Chief Chikanta stated that that as chiefs, they stand ready to work with the president for him to effectively deliver.
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