DON’T SELL MOPANI – PROF CLIVE CHIRWA

RENOWNED United Kingdom based Engineer Professor Clive Chirwa has urged the Government not to sell Mopani Copper Mines but ensure that it is run by Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines – Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH).

In his submission to the Government, Prof. Chirwa said he was glad that the Government had started looking for solutions to Mopani’s problems.

He said although the problems were too many such as power supply, transport, input materials, technology, they were not insurmountable.

He said as an engineer, he was talking from an informed position because had designed, constructed, and written some of the developed and developing countries’ industrialization plans.

“I am talking from a position of authority in this engineering subject that involves post-mining wealth creation for a nation. I was astonished to see Mopani in that faded light. It was a sad story that has to be regenerated in national interest. I have a plan of how to revive the mining company under 100% ownership by ZCCM-IH,” he said.

He said the sum of money associated with these problems was minute and obtainable within the current monetary framework of the company adding that the problem was solvable with minimal expenditure by Mopani and with some inputs by the Government.

He noted that the company had all the money in-house and could capitalise its assets freely.

He said finance and labour were not part of the problems and that they were simple draft calculations he had carried out showing Mopani could remain Zambian for good and prosper and bringing into the Zambia Revenue Authority coffers the revenue in billions of dollars every year since the country had already paid U$$1.5 billion in 2021 for it.

Professor Chirwa said the current production at Mopani had fallen to around 80,000 metric tonnes of which the potential was 250,000 metric tonnes and that the target for that analysis was 200,000 metric tonnes based on the current capable local ore deposit and concentration.

He said the fall in production was unfortunate but that they needed to ensure the market was neither Europe nor Asia, and not even America but Africa adding that Africa imported into the continent about 94% of copper wire and cables for building construction.

He said taking into account the Mopani capability, production deliverables, manpower, finance, the targeted market size for Zambia of 3.2% and 1.28%, the copper wire industry at Mopani would result in greater benefits than mere selling copper cathodes and substrates.