Zambian official says Glencore reverses plan to shutter copper mines
Glencore told the Zambian government this week that it wants
to keep operating its Zambian copper mining subsidiary Mopani Copper Mines
(MCM), not shutter the operations, mines ministry permanent secretary Barnaby
Mulenga said on Sunday.
Glencore’s decision to put MCM under “care and maintenance”
sparked a backlash from Zambia’s government, which threatened to revoke the
firm’s mining licences because it said Glencore did not give enough notice
before suspending the mines.
“The government wants to see a win-win situation and respects
investors but we need to protect the interests of Zambians,” Mulenga told
Reuters in a telephone interview.
Zambia’s ministers of mines, finance, home affairs, and
labour, will hold a video conference with Glencore on Monday to discuss the
issue, Mulenga said. “We expect to make a lot of progress in this meeting,” he
added.
A Glencore spokesman declined to comment on whether the
company wanted to keep MCM open, and referred Reuters to an earlier statement.
“Following Mopani’s recent announcement regarding the
transition of its mining operations to care and maintenance, Glencore is
currently in discussions on the way forward with the Government of Zambia,”
Glencore said in Tuesday’s statement.
MCM, which produced 119,000 tonnes of copper in 2018, is
73.1% owned by Glencore, 16.9% by First Quantum Minerals and 10% by Zambia’s
mining investment arm ZCCM-IH.
CHINA DEBT TALKS
Finance Minister Bwalya Ng’andu also denied a report MCM and
other Zambian mines might be bargaining chips in ongoing debt negotiations with
China.
A Wall Street Journal report on Friday said, citing Zambian
officials, that the government was considering giving China mining assets
including Mopani as collateral in exchange for deferral or forgiveness of its
sizeable debt.
Zambia’s external debt stood at $11.2 billion by end-June
2019, the finance minister said in March, with about a third of that foreign
debt owed to China.
Asked about the Wall Street Journal report, Ng’andu told
Reuters: “I have no discussions with China regarding the exchange of assets for
debt. The discussions with China on debt restructuring have nothing to do with
surrender of assets.”
Glencore declined to comment.
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