Zambia: FQM Housing Project put on hold
By Nawa Mutumweno – The Zambian government has halted the $500 million ultra-modern housing scheme currently being carried out by First Quantum Minerals (FQM) in the mining town of Solwezi.
Minister of Lands and Environment Wilbur Simuusa announced recently during a meeting called to chart the way forward for the Kalumbila Mining Project that the decision was arrived at due to ‘’a lot of illegality’’ going on at the project area which he, however, did not elaborate.
He directed that the project should be reviewed very clearly to satisfy Government’s concerns before it could be continued.
‘’We are not saying the project is not going ahead, but we are not happy with the current state of affairs concerning the project and the community. What this means is that we should prepare fresh submissions because we are re-starting the process. The new submissions should be done within 45 days because we are not interested in delaying projects,’’ he pointed out.
FQM, the Vancouver-based owner of Kansanshi Mining Plc in Solwezi is constructing thousands of houses for its workers at Kabitaka, as part of the home ownership scheme. It had applied for 950 square kilometres of land for surface rights but only 518 square kilometres were agreed upon between the mining giant, senior chief Musele and the Solwezi Municipal Council.
Under the $500 million project, a new modern township with a shopping mall, school, hospital and other facilities are expected to be constructed.
The company expects to construct close to 10 000 housing units in the next few years, with the first 380 houses scheduled for completion by September. This project has created over 200 jobs for the locals.
And FQM country manager Kingsley Chinkuli said the company will co-operate with the Government for progress purposes, saying, ‘’Please assist us in moving forward, we are ready to discuss.’’
Director of operations for the international mining giant Matt Pascall and acting general manager at Kalumbila Tristan Pascall and senior Government officials who included deputy minister in the Office of the Vice President Harry Kalala attended the meeting.
In 2011, FQM announced that they would pump $1 billion to build the Trident mine and smelter project in north-western Zambia, with Clive Newall, the firm’s president, saying the mine will have three open pits, Sentinel, Enterprise and Intrepid.
‘’The initial throughput at Sentinel is estimated at 25 million metric tonnes of ore, expected to rise up to 50 million metric tonnes to produce 300 0000 metric tonnes of copper,’’ Mr. Newall said at the time.
The project which is expected to be commissioned in the second quarter of 2014 will create about 2 000 direct jobs, especially for local people. There is potential for increased production at Enterprise and Intrepid with nickel production being a possibility.
FQM seeks to diversify after a battle over mining rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is investing in projects, including the Kevitsa nickel-copper operation in Finland and the Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Australia, which was scheduled to be on stream in 2012
