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RB dates Sinazongwe for MCL ground breaking ceremony
President Rupiah Banda
Republican President Rupiah Banda will this Friday travel to Sinazongwe district for a ground breaking ceremony of the re-opening of Maamba Collieries Limited (MCL) that was sold to an equity partner of Nava Bharata Singapore.
The MCL Management has intensified preparations from ground breaking ceremony, and some old infrastructure at the company premise have been demolished to pave for the modern structures that are constructed.
MCL Director Ashwin Devineni told journalist at Maamba’s Izuma Lodge that full production of mining of coal will start in August as at the moment the company is clearing the overburden in readiness for coal extraction.
Mr Devineni said the large scale operations of extraction and transportation of high-grade coal has been contracted to GRN Constructions (Zambia) who have extensive experience in environmental conscious Coal Mining.
He disclosed that GRN (Zambia) have initiated the hiring of over 100 employees from within Maamba region in Phase one and have undertaken to train suitable personnel on the operations and handling of Heavy Machinery in coal mining
He said MCL will be supervising the operations of the contractor who is expected to be producing 50,000 metric tones per month once the thermal power plant is constructed.
Mr Devineni who is also the Chief Executive Officer for Nava Bharat Singapore said the new Coal Processing Plant (CPP) which has been bought at the cost of US$ 23 Million from South Africa will start operating in September this year.
The Director disclosed that procurement of the equipment for the construction of a thermal Power plant which will be using coal has reached an advanced stage and it will be completed in 2013 or 2014 as construction will take three to four years.
He said phase one of the power plant will be producing 300 mega watts of thermal electricity and it will cost US$750 million for construction and in phase two another 300 mega watts with be constructed.
Mr Devineni said the power will be channelled through Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) for distribution to customers.
He said their will be a lot of employment opportunities in Maamba and many companies will be set as a result of investment.
Mr.Devineni also disclosed that the company has since spent US$ 36 million on retirement, salaries arrears, Voluntary Employee Separation Scheme and other liabilities.
He said Maamba Development Trust has been put in place to ensure that social services such as education, water, sports were provided to the communities.
The director also pointed out that the mining will be done in an environmentally friendly as water will be recycled and all the overburden materials will be buried to avoid pollution.
Nava Bharat (Singapore) Pte Ltd. (NBS) joined as a strategic equity and technical partner by acquiring 65 percent equity stake in MCL from Zambia Consolidate Copper Mine –Investment Holding (ZCCM-IH) in April 2010.