By Amb Emmanuel Mwamba
Mopani Copper Mine Sale is one of the biggest fraud by President Hakainde Hichilema’s Government.
It was sold without parliamentary approval.
The procurement process was corrupt and botched.
It was sold for a song despite the immense value of the assets and market value.
Glencore invested $4.5billion in Mopani Copper Mine between 2015-2020.
New Shafts:
● Synclinorium Shaft: Sunk to a depth of 1,200 meters to access ore reserves at deeper depths, increase hoist production capacity, and reduce the cost of production.
●Mindola Deeps Shaft: Sunk to a depth of 2,020 meters to replace existing infrastructure at Nkana Mine Site and extend the life of the mine
● Henderson Shaft: Sunk to a depth of 1,547 meters, one of the deepest shafts ever sunk in Zambia
Glencore invested in three concentrators, two at the Nkana mine in Kitwe and one at the Mufulira mine.
ZCCM-IH and Mopani Copper Mines required only about $300 million
investment to scale up production to 200,000 metric
tons of copper within the next three years.
Glencore sold a 73% stake in Mopani to ZCCM-IH in 2021 for $1.5 billion, but retained offtake rights until the debt was repaid.
But President Hichilema refused for ZCCM-IH to Source the $300million required to begin production. He chose to put the mine on sale and on the market.
President Hichilema stated that Mopani Copper Mine would seek a strategic equity partner for Mopani, hiring Rothschild & Co, a global wealth and asset management company, to oversee the process.
Rothschild picked 10 interested companies whittling down to four companies.
Those shortlisted were:
●China’s Zijin Mining,
●South Africa’s Sibanye Stillwater, ●China’s Norinco Group, and
●an investment vehicle owned by ex-Glencore officials.
Then things began to go wrong and went south.
ZCCM-IH Board Chairperson, Dolika Banda resigned with serious of interference and corruption from State House.
The procurement process done by Rothschild at great cost, was abandoned and a new equity partner was illegally introduced.
A new mining company, International Resources Holding (IRH) purporting to be a subsidiary ofInternational Holding Company (IHC) and 2Point Zero companies UAE-based companies, acquired a 51% stake in Mopani Copper Mines for a reported $1.1 billion.
No money came to the Treasury for the sale of the shares.
IRC secured a 51% ownership stake.
The detailed breakdown included;
● $620 million as new equity capital and
● a $400 million shareholder loan. ●An additional $80 million loan.
Government refused to subject the sale of the mining asset or its shares, which was 100% owned by ZCCM-IH, to parliamentary approval as demanded by Article 210 of the Republican Constitution.