No Investor Is willing to take over KCM because it still belongs to Vedanta
Copperbelt-based mining analyst Thilasoni Chikwanda says no investor can show interest in Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) until the protracted legal dispute between Vedanta and the Zambian government is resolved.
Chikwanda says the situation involving KCM has put the mine in a precarious situation such that it was not recording any profits.
Until 2019 when liquidation was ordered, KCM was a subsidiary of Vedanta who owned 51% shares since 2004.
The decision to liquidate KCM through an ex-parte injunction by the government-owned Zambian State Mining Company, ZCCM-IH was disputed in a London court.
The London arbitral tribunal has since granted a partial Final Award ruling that ZCCM-IH breached the dispute resolution provisions in the shareholders’ agreement by Vedanta and the Government of Zambia.
Chikwanda says it is therefore an uphill battle to wrestle the mine from Vedanta and continuing with the court process was only affecting its operations.
“Many investors won’t show an interest until the legal disputes of the existing investor are dealt with,” he said during a phone-in program on Chingola’s iWave Radio on Wednesday.
He says the only way that a new investor can taken an interest in the mine is when they were fully convinced that all legal encumbrances had been resolved and the mine was retained to ownership normalcy.
Chikwanda says it was difficult for KCM to emerge out of its current chaos without the Zambian government and Vedanta resolving the issue.
“It’s a complicated arrangement which has been created. I think it will take a bit of time to resolve that matter and to get to a point where it (KCM) has to be put back on the market,” he said.
Zambia is spending in excess of $5 million to defend the liquidation of KCM in London, according to estimates by the Global Arbitration Review. Both Vedanta and the Zambian government can not dictate the length of the court process.