ZAMBIA: The government has reached an agreement with Vedanta Resources Ltd on the ownership of Konkola Copper Mines.
The two entities have had a legal dispute over the ownership of the mine since it was placed under provisional liquidation in 2019. Under the new terms, the government, through its investment arm ZCCM-IH, will maintain 20.6 percent ownership. The remaining 79.4 percent will be maintained as Vedanta’s shareholding. Some key features of the agreement include: US$1 billion investment in KCM development; US$250 million payment to all local creditors; US$20 million investment into the local community (CSR) every year through a special purpose vehicle – Community Trust; a once-off ZMW2,500 payment to all employees; and a 20 percent increase in salaries of employees.
The expectation is for normal operations to commence in the next three months and production to double from the current 50,000MT to 100,000MT by the end of 2024, and to steadily increase towards the 300,000MT maximum capacity in the next few years.
