Performance of Zambia’s Mining Sector in 2019

Action Aid protesting against some mine investors in 2019

By Paul Shalala 

2019 has been a challenging year for the mining sector in Zambia.

Africa’s second largest copper producer started the year with implementation of various government measures which were prescribed in the 2019 National Budget.

One of these was the 15 % tax imposed on imported copper concentrates.

This measure was meant to boost local production of copper concentrates which is a highly sought after product in the mines.

However, this measure was heavily opposed by the mining houses.

“This measure was done without consultation. It led to a situation were the sector thought government was fighting it. The measure brought problems for Chambishi Metals which ended up laying off some workers,” said Association of Mine Suppliers and Contractors of Zambia President Augustine Mubanga.

Secondly, the 2019 National Budget also brought in Sales tax.

This tax was brought in to replace Value Added Tax which had been in use for decades.

But due to heavy opposition from the mines, talks between government and stakeholders went on for almost the whole year.

Implementation of the tax was postponed two times and in the end, the Ministry of Finance ended up scrapping it off in the third quarter.

Mining, being a huge undertaking, has far reaching consequences on the environment.

A number of mine houses were caught off guard in this area in 2019.

For example, in March, Mopani Copper Mines was exposed for constructing an illegal tailings dam in the Nkana Tailings Complex in Kitwe.

Here, harmful products were being released into this tailings dam which was built without approval by authorities.

The illegal tailings dam was exposed when then Mines Permanent Secretary Paul Chanda toured the tailings complex and found Mopani workers discharging waste into the bush.

In anger, Mr Chanda threatened to take on the mining giant.

Inspectors found traces of harmful substances in the effluent and the mining firm was later fined by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency.

And in October, the Nchanga Acid Plant in Chingola released harmful substances into the environment.

Over 300 pupils at Nchanga Trust School and several KCM workers were hospitalized.

This was after a power surge.

“The other issue which was topical in 2019 in the area of the environment is the debate on the opening of a mine in the South Luangwa National Park. The sad part is that the mine life span is seven years. Now look at seven years and what impact mining will do on the ecosystem to mine for only those few years,” said Lovemore Muma, an environmentalist who runs The Earth Organisation.

But the biggest of all the 2019 mining stories was the takeover of Konkola Copper Mines by the ZCCM-IH, a government congolomerate which has stakes in several mines.

KCM is the largest employer in the mining sector in Zambia and it has operations in Kitwe, Chingola, Chililabombwe and Nampundwe.

Following protracted negotiations over the failure by KCM to pay its suppliers and contractors, ZCCM-IH moved in and ejected Vedanta Resources, an Indian owned conglomerate.

For years, KCM had been reporting losses despite holding to a mine which many Zambians think was sold for a ‘song.’

Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu announced the takeover of the mine during a meeting with mine suppliers and contractors in Ndola.

“They have lied enough to us. We will go to court and get a divorce,” said President Lungu.

Since then, Milingo Lungu was appointed as a liquidator and took over the running of KCM.

Suppliers and contractors are now receiving their money.

“The take over of KCM was well received by us and other stakeholders because KCM was unfaithful. They owned our members millions of dollars and some of them went for over five, six or nine months without payment. Now we are being paid within a month,” said Mubanga.

And in the small scale mining sector, there was a lot of activity.

A number of tailings and dumps, mostly on the Copperbelt were given to the young people.

The youths are still pushing for capital to actualize their dreams.

Still in the small scale mining sector, gold was discovered in Mwinilunga, Mumbwa and Petauke, leading to a rush by local and foreign interested business people.

In Chief Chibwika’s area in Mwinilunga, thousands of prospectors invaded the area in August.

“My chiefdom is under siege. Three thousand people have come to my villages and we are worried because the sanitary facilities in the villages cant cope, am worried for my subjects,” said Chief Chibwika in an interview.

Another gold rush is currently underway in Mumbwa where hundreds of small scale miners are prospecting. 

A video which circulated on social media a few days ago showed hundreds of residents using hand held tools digging for gold in Sichanzu area, near Luiri Mine.

And the Small Scale Miners Association has some advise on how the newly found gold can be utilised.

“We need laws that can govern the mining of gold. The mining going on is uncoordinated. The price of gold is better that copper. Going forward, we advise government to utilise this mineral which can bring the much needed wealth to this country,” said Kunda Chani, President of the Small Scale Miners President.

On a sad note, several miners died in a number of mine accidents.

Mopani Copper Mines, which is partly owned by Glencore, recorded the highest number of deaths in several mine accidents across the country.

This led to suspension of operations.

“These mine accidents and deaths at Mopani exposed their challenges in terms of safety. Mopani must invest in safety, it is not good to continue losing workers like that,” said Joseph Chewe, President of the Mine Workers Union of Zambia.

2019 is also the year when Manganese mining became very prominent in Central and Luapula Provinces.

Various foreign firms, mostly owned by Chinese investors, have set up factories in the two provinces ready to refine the mineral.

As the country enters 2020, the mining sector hopes to see an increase in copper production which saw a drop in 2019.

World Bank's US$65.6M Credit Targets Zambia's Polluted Towns

World Bank Team with Central Province Permanent Secretary

By Paul Shalala in Kabwe

The World Bank has kick-started a five year environmental program aimed at alleviating the suffering of the people in three Zambian towns which are heavily polluted and whose residents have been affected by pollution.

The Zambia Mining Environment Remediation and Improvement Project is funded through a US$ 65.6 million credit facilitated by the World Bank’s International Development Association.

The project aims at reduce environmental health risks for people residing in polluted mining areas in Kabwe, Kitwe and Chingola Districts.

For the past 52 years, mining has been Zambia’s biggest revenue earner.

The country has largely depended on minerals, especially copper, for its survival.

The country is the second largest producer of copper in Africa and the third in the world.

However, this natural resource has its own challenges.

With over decades of mining having been done in Zambia, the legacy of mineral extraction has not been good.

In mining towns like Chingola, rivers and streams have been contaminated by the mines.

This has led to people getting sick while a handful have died due to pollution.

At an Action Aid-organised forum for residents of Chingola to speak out about pollution last month, many residents could not hide their anger.

“We have seen people die, we have seen people getting sick, we have seen water polluted. But nothing is being done to stop this pollution,” said Bernadette Mulamba, a Chingola resident and an environmental activist with the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace.

A few days earlier, Chingola Mayor Titus Tembo had complained of Zambia’s largest mining firm Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) of having polluted the Mushishima stream leading to fish die and villagers picking and eating it.

“KCM has polluted the.Mushihsima stream killing fish. Because of poverty, our people are eating the dead fish and some have become sick, said Mr Tembo.

The story is the same in Kitwe which hosts major mines.

Here, both air and water pollution has been reported.

In December last year, the Kafue river which supplies water to the city of Kitwe was polluted with high levels of sulphate which forced the Nkana Water and Sewerage Company to switch off water supply to the city which has over 500,000 residents.

This was followed by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) instituting investigations on seven mining firms which discharge water into the Mwambashi stream and the Kafue river.

ZEMA inspectors collecting samples at Muntimpa Dam

ZEMA inspectors took samples from the seven companies and tested them in three separate laboratories but to date, the results are still being awaited.

And in Kabwe, the legacy of lead and zinc mining is evident.

The town, which is infamously called a ghost town, is said to be the worst hit city in the world in terms of lead poisoning.

According to data from the World Bank Country Office in Zambia, studies done in 2003 – 2006 showed that the content of lead in soil in certain areas of Kabwe were as high as 26,000 mg/kg against the acceptable levels of about 10 to 50 mg/kg making the land unsuitable for residential and agricultural purposes.

With these case studies and accounts of real pollution in the three mining towns, the World Bank Board of Executive Directors on 20 December, 2016 approved the credit for the Zambia Mining Environment Remediation and Improvement project.

The project is expected to benefit 70,000 people who live in the areas heavily polluted by the mines.

On Saturday, a team of World Bank officials from the Zambian office and the bank’s international headquarters in Washington DC visited Kabwe to launch the project.

The team explained why the Zambia Mining Environment Remediation and Improvement Project is important to people in the three mining towns.

“Mining Environment Remediation and Improvement Project will be implemented for five years from 2016 to 2021. The project’s objective is to reduce environmental health risks on the local population which is associated with mining in criticall polluted areas of Kabwe and other Copperbelt towns,” said World Bank Country Manager Ina-Marlene Ruthenberg.

She revealed that the project will: “Clean up some parts of the old mining town of Kabwe which still has unacceptably high levels of lead in the soil and high Blood Lead level among children, resulting from the past lead mining in the area.”

And newly appointed Central Province Permanent Secretary Chanda Kabwe, who hosted the team in his office, pledged the Zambian government’s support for the project.

Mr Kabwe, who is just a few days in the office, spent the past three years as District Commissioner in the mining towns of Mufulira and Kitwe which are both polluted by mining.

“Having come from the Copperbelt where I saved in the mining towns, I pledge my support to ensure this project succeeds. Central Province is predominantly an agriculture area and pollution affects the crop. This could also affect food security. So we will ensure this project succeeds so we can fight poverty,” said Mr Kabwe.

The Project will work with the City Councils in Kabwe, Kitwe and Chingola to ensure that the impact in terms of implementation is owned by the respective local authorities.

The polluted Shimulala stream in Chingola

And leaders in the respective municipalities are happy that the project will alleviate some of the suffering their people go through.

Kabwe Municipal Council Director of Public Health Paul Mukuka had this to say: “In the past we have had JICA (Japan International Corporation Agency) and the Copperbelt Environment Project doing a number of studies in Kabwe. We hope the coming of the World Bank project will help save more lives from pollution.”

For Kitwe Mayor Christopher Kangombe, the project is more than welcome to the country's second largest city.

“We commend the World Bank for committing US$65.6 million to this project. We welcome this project and hope it will help us reduce the effects of pollution in Kitwe. We however wait to learn the scope of work,” said Mr Kangombe.

Kitwe-based Ministry of Mines Director of Mine Safety Gideon Ndalama will serve as the National Coordinator for the Zambia Mining Environment Remediation and Improvement Project.

In this role, Mr Ndalama will work with the World Bank, the three municipalities and the Zambia Environmental Management Agency.

“This is a locally entrenched project, we should all own it. This is the only way we will have sustainability,” said Ndalama.

In terms of benefits to the local people, this project targets to provide medical interventions to over 30,000 children.

The projects plans to reduce Blood Lead Level (BLL) by 50% among children under the age of 15.

Over 4,000 of these children are expected to be tested for BLL by 2022.

World Bank Environment Specialist Mwansa Lukwesa explains that the health component to the Zambia Mining Environment Remediation and Improvement project is important because pollution has effects on people’s health.

“The project will test and treat children under the age of five and giving them supplements. The issues of lead poisoning are linked with nutrition because most of the people affected are poor,” he said.

By the year 2021, the Zambia Mining Environment Remediation and Improvement Project is expected to reduce lead contamination in Kabwe by 70 percent.

Further, the project also aims to empower 500 women and unemployed youths with income generating activities which will keep them away from jobs that expose them to lead poisoning.

Due to lack of jobs, some Kabwe residents have broken locks to the tailing dams and opened them to have access to quarrying stones.

The Zambia Mining Environment Remediation and Improvement Project is the second environmental program the Bretton Woods institution has funded in Zambia to fight pollution in mine areas.

Between 2003 and 2011, the World Bank funded the Copperbelt Environment Project which produced some findings which the current project aims to build on.

Kabwe was at the center of lead mining from 1902 until the mine was closed in 1994.

Illegal stone quarrying in the former mine has continued and a recent tour by this blogger found some residents conducting driving lessons at the former mine site.

All these activities increase people's exposure to lead.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was also produced as a 7 minutes documentary which aired on TV2's Morning Live Program on 19 January 2017 and it was again broadcast on TV1's Newsline program on 20 January 2017. You can watch the documentary which aired on Newsline on this YouTube link: Zambia Mining Pollution Documentary

Diseases Increase, Fish Die As Pollution Continues In Chingola

Sandwell Sinyangwe pointing at the polluted Shimulala stream

By Paul Shalala in Chingola

Pollution in the copper mining town of Chingola is not a new story.

For decades, this town has been suffering for indiscriminate pollution of its streams and now residents are fed up.

Chingola hosts Konkola Mine and Nchanga Open Pit mines which are run by Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), a Vedanta-owned firm.

On Friday, over 100 Chingola residents met at Protea Hotel to complain about pollution and give evidence of the effects of the problem.

Their complaints follow last week's comments by Chingola Mayor Titus Tembo in which he indicated that KCM had polluted streams in the town.

"KCM has polluted the Mushishima stream killing fish. Because of poverty, our people are eating the dead fish and some have become sick," said Mr Tembo when Mines Minister Christopher Yaluma paid a courtesy call on him on Thursday last week.

And at the meeting which was organized by Action Aid Zambia, residents had a chance to air out their anger over the challenges they are going through with unsafe water.

A concerned resident Bernadette Malamba has documented over five deaths caused by polluted water in the district.

"We have documented five deaths so far. Most of them are children who die of unsafe water. We have nowhere to complain to. People's sight being affected due to pollution in the Shimulala stream," said Ms Malamba who also works for the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace.

Ms Malamba has been campaigning against pollution in Chingola since 2005 and she has a list of suspected cases of pollution in about three streams.

Her words have been echoed by other residents who face similar challenges.

Chingola residents during the meeting at Protea Hotel

"The Zambia Environmental Management Agency has failed us. Every year they come here to test water but nothing tangible comes out. Mining companies keep polluting our water and ZEMA is quiet," said Kennedy Mulenga who heads a local pressure group on pollution.

Across Chingola, cases of diarrhoea and other diseases are common.

A visit to Shimulala village on the outskirts of Chingola town reveals the full extent of pollution.

In the past decade, residents had gardens along the Shimulala stream but today, they have all disappeared.

Downstream, indigenous streams have dried up due to high levels of copper and acid in the stream.

"This stream has been polluted. It has high levels of copper, acid and other minerals. When we plant crops, they do not grow. This has led us to stop planting rape and cabbage because they dry up. This has brought poverty in the village, we are suffering," said Davies Sinyangwe in an interview.

Another resident Hildah Nakumwenda has this to say: "Water from this stream is not healthy. When you cook beans, it does not get ripe. When you use the water for bathing, it leaves you with rush. We used to support our children with school fees from the gardens but now they have abandoned school because we cant afford to pay the fees."

Action Aid Zambia, a member of the global non governmental organisation championing the rights of underprivileged people in society, has joined the residents of Chingola in calling for action on pollution.

"We have received several cases of human rights violations in the form of pollution. We shall take on these cases and help the residents find a solution to this problem. The problem we have found is that ZEMA does not engage the community in these issues," said Jeston Lunda, Action Aid Zambia Manager for Agriculture and Environment.

And in some areas like Maiteneke and Sopano, instead of receiving clean running water from Mulonga Water and Sewerage Company, residents are supplied with brown water.

"It seems Mulonga Water does not treat its water. When Konkola Copper Mines releases that dirty water from the mine, it flows into the Kafue river where Mulonga collects its water. They do not even treat it and supply us like that," said Charles Mubanga, a resident of Maiteneke.

And Sabrina Mule, a resident of Sopano also complains of the brown water: "We are tired of being sick with this brown water. We need a solution as soon as possible before we all die of diseases."

But Mulonga Water and Sewerage Company Public Relations Manager Deborah Kangende says the brown water is safe for drinking.

"We have a number of residential areas in Chingola who are supplied with brown water from KCM. That water is safe because we conduct tests before we supply it. That colour comes out because of the reaction from the minerals and chlorine which we add to purify it," said Ms Kangende in an interview.

The Shimulala stream

Recently, KCM Chief Executive Officer Steven Din acknowledged receiving a petition from Chingola residents over pollution. 

This was after Mines Minister Christopher Yaluma asked him about the many cases residents briefed him on pollution.

Mr Din promised that the mining giant would look into their concerns.

The seven paged petition contains several detailed cases of water and air pollution which are all blamed on KCM, Zambia's largest mining investor.

Aerial pictures of suspected polluted areas and results of PH tests on water are all tabulated in the petition.

"We as residents have since witnessed an increase in acid mist which is chocking residents in the western part of Chingola around Mwaiseni and Chiwempala, the most recent incident being reported on Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th December, 2016. This is further exacerbated by the lack of mist suppressants," reads part of the petition.

The petition was delivered on 14th December to KCM with copies being made available to the two area Members of Parliament in Chingola, Councillors, the Ministry of Finance, the Zambia Development Agency and the Zambia Revenue Authority.

KCM is among seven major mining firms which are under investigations following the discivery of high levels of sulphate in the Kafue and Mwambashi stream three weeks ago.

The pollution forced the Nkana Water and Sewerage Company to shut water supply to the city of Kitwe, leaving the over 500,000 residents of Zamhia's second largest city without water for two days.

Results from the investigations by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency are yet to be released.

The other mining firms under investigations for pollution are NFC Africa Mining, Chambeshi Copper Smelter, Chambeshi Metals, Sino Metals, Bollore Africa Mining and Mopani Copper Mines.

Environmental Inspectors Start Probe On Kafue River Pollution

ZEMA inspectors picking samples at Mutimpa Tailings Dam

By Paul Shalala in Chingola

The Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) has commenced investigations to establish the mining firm which polluted the Kafue river with sulphur forcing the Nkana Water and Sewerage Company to shutdown water supply to Kitwe for two days.

On Monday, the utility detected high levels of sulphur in the river and shutdown its water supply to Zambia's second largest city Kitwe, leaving its over 500,000 residents without water.

Water was only restored late on Wednesday after Nkana Water and Sewerage Company neutralised the sulphur in its reservoirs.

According to the utility, sulphur was discharged into the Mwambashi stream and it flowed into the Kafue river where the utility gets its water for residents of the mining towns of Chambeshi, Kitwe and Kalulushi.

Bivan Saluseki, the spokesperson for Nkana Water and Sewerage Company said the shutdown was done to protect people's lives and the firm was doing everything possible to ensure no one is harmed.

And Kitwe District Commissioner Chanda has pointed the blame at Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), the country's largest mining investor which runs mines in several towns on the Copperbelt region.

"As government we will not allow KCM to continue polluting our water sources. We shall put up punitive measures to stop this practice," said Mr Kabwe in a telephone interview.

KCM is a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources PLC, a London-listed mining firm.

The firm runs the Konkola and Nchanga mines in Chingola.

Today, a team of inspectors from ZEMA visited Muntimpa Tailings Dam in Chingola's Kasompe area to test the water for sulphur.

Muntimpa is the largest tailings dam in Zambia and its estimated to hold over two million cubic meters of tailings material from KCM's operations.

The dam contains both natural water from nearby streams and effluent from the mines.

Water from this dam flows into the Mwambashi stream which discharges its water into the Kafue, one of Zambia's largest river

Water flows out of Mutimpa Dam into the Mwambashi stream

The inspectors were led by Ray Chafilwa, a Kitwe-based ZEMA inspector.

They collected water samples from various points on the dam and also tested the water for acidity.

The collected water has been taken to a laboratory and results from the samples are expected to be released tomorrow.

This is the second time environmental inspectors from ZEMA have inspected KCM facilities within 24 hours.

KCM is not new to allegations of polluting rivers on the Copperbelt.

It has in the past been convicted and fined by Zambian courts for pollution.

Currently, there is an ongoing court case on KCM and its parent company Vedanta in London were activists have sued the Indian-owned mining giant on behalf of the over 1,800 Zambian residents who have been affected by the alleged pollution.