By DAVIS MULENGA –
FIRST Quantum Minerals (FQM) has appealed to government to help speed up regulatory approvals that include a multi-million Kwacha town development at Kalumbila, 120 kilometres west of Solwezi, where the global mining company is this year scheduled to commission the $2 billion Sentinel Mine.
The appeal was made to Vice-President Guy Scott by Kansanshi Mine Public Relations Manager, Godfrey Msiska, during the 88th Agriculture and Commercial Show of Zambia (ACSZ).
“Your honour, there are plenty of social and economic benefits in the cupboard to augment the existing ones, and we need your assistance to unlock these for the greater benefit of Zambia,” Mr Msiska told the Vice President when he toured the FQM stand at the Lusaka Show Grounds.
“With reference to this year’s theme of ‘Breaking New Ground’, fact-based evidence of significant and sustainable benefits in areas where we operate vividly captures how FQM is living the theme,” he said.
Dr Scott briefly replied that: “There is a bit of bureaucracy that needs to be sorted out.”
Established in 1996 to develop the Bwana Mkubwa project in Zambia, FQM has grown steadily to become an international leader in mineral exploration, development and mining.
Following acquisition of Inmet Mining Corporation in March 2013, the mining company is set to become a leading global producer of copper, with a diversified portfolio of operations and projects on four continents.
In Zambia, FQM operates Kansanshi Mine in Solwezi, a flagship operation it co-owns with the government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ).
It holds a stake of 80 per cent in the mine while the remaining 20 per cent is held by GRZ. In 2011, FQM was granted a large-scale mining licence at Kalumbila where it is set to commission the US$2 billion Sentinel Mine, a copper mine expected to produce 300,000mtpa of copper.
Sentinel is the first of the three potential mines under FQM’s Trident project.
The second is Enterprise, a nickel deposit while the mineral resource of the third, Intrepid, is yet to be determined.
