. Yaluma

By SYLVESTER MWALE –
MINES Minister Christopher Yaluma says Government will recover the K5 million from Collum Coal Mining Industries Limited before selling the mine to another investor.
The Government took over the Collum Mine in Sinazongwe District from the Chinese Company after persistent labour disputes with employees as and failure to comply with safety, health and environmental requirements.
Collum Coal Mining Industries Limited owes the Government more than K5 million in unpaid statutory obligations including mineral loyalty while failing to declare mineral production.
It is also believed that the Chinese firm and the Zambian Government have not agreed on the value of the assets at the mine thereby, prolonging the process of identifying the new investor.
But Mr Yaluma said in an interview during the week that the Government would recover the money after the process of evaluating the assets before selling the mine to new investors.
“These figures will be recovered from the assets,” he said. “We have been discussing and the ZCCM-IH which is running the mine has been trying to get independent valuators to determine the value of the assets at the mine.”
Mr Yaluma dispelled speculations that the Government had failed to find a new investor for the mine saying there were many people that had expressed interest to operate the mine.
He said the new investor could only be asked to take over the mine after the valuation of the assets.
ZCCM-IH has, meanwhile said the process of identifying a suitable strategic partner to operate the mine would be concluded in the next few weeks.
ZCCH-IH chief financial officer Mabvuto Chipata said the mine was viable and the institution planned to identify a company with necessary experience to work with ZCCM-IH in running the mine.
The mine employs around 660 employees and all of them have been retained on full monthly wages despite the mine being on care and maintenance.
“It is the intention of ZCCM-IH to ensure that jobs are preserved by ensuring that a suitable partner is engaged so as to provide appropriate technical and financial investment for the mine,” Mr Chipata said.
“ZCCM-IH will undertake full environmental impact assessment of the proposed mining activities to ensure full compliance with regulatory requirements. He said the ZCCM-IH was undertaking studies to ensure that once production commenced the previous challenges faced by the company does not reoccur.