‘VEDANTA STRIPS KCM’
...Mining company is colluding with some workers to steal vital assets to cripple the concentrator and to flood mine
GOVERNMNET has unearthed a scam in which Vedanta is stripping Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) of its assets.
Mines minister Richard Musukwa yesterday said Vedanta had deliberately damaged the operating system thereby crippling the KCM concentrator.
Mr. Musukwa said Vedanta was working with some Zambians and foreign contractors to ensure that the mine was flooded while the smelter remained unproductive.
He said the investor was conniving with some employees to switch off key components of the smelter.
“There was a problem purposefully created on the smelter using a computer software which is used to run and operate the smelter, it was removed by people who wanted to ground the facility. “There was a collusion among security and laboratory personnel as well as smelter staff to steal diesel and in the recess supplied a water solvent in the form which if it went to the smelter, would have generated a problem,” Mr. Musukwa said.
Meanwhile, police on the Copperbelt are investigating the theft of a flash disc at the mine which has left operations at the smelter paralysed.
Copperbelt Police Commissioner Charity Katanga yesterday said police had identified a Zambian and his Indian counterpart who were prime suspects in the theft of flash discs which contained the software.
Ms. Katanga said investigations into the matter have been launched and that the Indian was helping police with investigations.
She also said police discovered contaminated fuel at the KCM premises.