By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
Proposed Gold Refinery in Kabulonga
This was sent to me.
“Just to give you the heads-up I was asked to comment on an EPB(Environmental Project Brief. This is an Environmental Impact Assessment report prepared in respect of projects with very low negative impacts on the environment) submitted to the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) by the Consolidated Gold Company (Z) Ltd (part of ZCCM-IH) for a Gold Electrowinning Processing plant to be set up on a residential plot on LHR (One plot up from the corner plot on Leopards Lane and LHR, Amaka Lodge turn-off) near Cross Roads in Kabulonga (see map attached)
They intend to bring in 500-600 tonnes a month of gold mine tailings from Rufunsa and Mumbwa, and heap them in the back garden.
They will then use a crushing plant to break down the tailings and finally an electrolytic process to extract the gold which apart from using large amounts of caustic soda which will end up in the waste system and some acidic fumes is apparently completely inoffensive!
They have put up signage and asked for stakeholder consultation which by the look of the seven signatures was not a particularly representative cross section of Kabulonga property owners.
I urge you to contact info@zema.org.zm ATT Thresa Nabuyanda (for the Director General), in haste before 18th May, to make an objection to having a Mining Refining Factory placed in your area when such a facility should be placed in the Light Industrial Area or MFEZ.
The Company suggests that there is already Commercial Activity in the area (an Embassy, a university, hotels and shops) and thus a gold refining factory is in keeping with the zoning, and that they will conform to all the requirements of the Eastern Province Planning Authority which they believe to be the ruling body in this matter!”