By Paul Shalala and Collins Chama
 |
| Aerial shot of Munali Nickel Mine |
Munali
Nickel Mine in Mazabuka District has been under care and maintenance after
Albidon Mine stopped operations in 2011.
Since
then, nothing much has changed to revamp operations at the mine.
The
only slim hope is that feasibility studies at the mine have been completed,
with positive results.
The
results show that the mine has 5.6 Million tonnes of nickel ore.
The
company is now looking for US$40 Million to revamp operations at the Mazabuka
mine.
Already
US$5 million has been spent on technical works at the mine since December last
year.
Once fully operational, the mine can
produce about 4 thousand tonnes of nickel concentrate annually, with the
potential to grow to 6,000 tonnes.
The mine, which was acquired by
Britain-based Consolidated Nickel Mines (CNM) plc after entering an agreement
with the previous owners, Jinchuan in May, is expected to reopen once works are
complete and approved by relevant stakeholders.
According to recent media reports,
CNM plc managing director Simon Purkiss said the firm, which is expected to
invest about US$40 million to reopen the mine is, among other projects,
developing an extensive due diligence to re-establish the extent of the ore
body.
CNM is also undertaking extensive
metallurgical tests to improve recoveries and visiting other nickel mine
operations in the region to examine different operations.
This is according to a response to a
press query issued by the company recently.
The Munali Nickel Mine has in the past displaced thousands of small scale farmers who have been relocated to Mugoto area.
The plight of the farmers has been a controversial issue which has been a thorn in the eyes of authorities.
The Munali Nickel Mine has in the past displaced thousands of small scale farmers who have been relocated to Mugoto area.
The plight of the farmers has been a controversial issue which has been a thorn in the eyes of authorities.
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