Regular audits for mines

Business
Zambia will carry out regular audits at all mines to avoid any repeat of the situation at Vedanta unit Konkola Copper Mines (KCM),

LUSAKA — Zambia will carry out regular audits at all mines to avoid any repeat of the situation at Vedanta unit Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), which has breached the terms of its license, the mining ministry said on Thursday.

Zambian President Edgar Lungu said on Monday the government planned to strip KCM of its mining license and bring in a new investor. His spokesman said the move followed a number of breaches of the terms of the license, without giving details.

A court hearing has been scheduled for Friday, according to documents seen by Reuters, following a high court order this week that named a Zambian law firm as the liquidator to oversee KCM.

Vedanta said it would challenge the order, which was granted after an application by Zambian state-owned ZCCM-IH, which holds a 20,6% stake in KCM.

“Vedanta has serious concerns about the intentions of the applicants and the procedures that were followed by ZCCM-IH as a representative of government to obtain a provisional liquidation order on an ex parte basis against KCM in an apparent misuse of the legal process to date,” it said.

Vedanta said among its concerns were that ZCCM-IH was not a major creditor of KCM and that since the order was granted ex-parte, the company was not able to present its case.

Vedanta also said that ZCCM-IH and the Zambian government were fully aware of the circumstances of the company and major decisions that were taken to manage KCM.

Reuters