Find strategic partner in Mopani – Kavindele
GOVERNMENT must find a strategic partner to run Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) even if it wants to buy all the shares offered to it by Glencore, former Vice President Enock Kavindele has said.
Mr Kavindele said it will be very costly for the state to run the mining firm as the venture requires huge sums of money.
GOVERNMENT must find a strategic partner to run Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) even if it wants to buy all the shares offered to it by Glencore, former Vice President Enock Kavindele has said.
Mr Kavindele said it will be very costly for the state to run the mining firm as the venture requires huge sums of money.
He said running a mine was not like any business because it required pumping in a lot of water.
Mr Kavindele said when Zambia was running mines in the past, it was hard to source for funds for operations.
He said it was therefore important that Government found a strategic partner to provide resources for operations.
Mr Kavindele said: “The state should not take the route which it took in the past because doing so would be a huge burden on Government which will incur more debt by running the mine more as resources will be needed to sustain operations.”
Mr Kavindele said Government through ZCCM-IH could increase its shares in the mine but should engage an investor to run the mining firm.
"Government need to be an enabler as opposed to being involved in active operations. We have been on this route before and it wasn't pleasant at all.