KONKOLA Copper Mines provisional liquidator has sold the smelter to a company which has been operating at the slug dumps at KCM.
KCM announced the split of the company into two divisions effective February 1, 2021 – KCM SmelterCo Limited and Konkola Mineral Resources Limited – allegedly for purposes of “reorganisation and restructuring”.
They claim that the decision is meant to increase efficiency, foster optimization and boost business opportunities.
But sources have revealed that KCM has already entered into an agreement with a company that lacks capacity to run a mining business which it has sold 51 per cent shares in KCM SmelterCo Limited.
“In the media, they want to make it look like they’re splitting the company yet they’ve sold it. They want to fool Zambians,” the sources reveal.
The problem with this transaction is that it will render other ventures of the unit irrelevant as the smelter is currently the only viable asset at the KCM.
This may ultimately lead to the closure of all the other pits, the sources reveal.
“People might be deceived that the provisional liquidator is doing the right thing by splitting the company. The plan is to sell the smelter which is worth $700 million to $800 million yet the capacity of this company is only around $20 million. Without the smelter, nobody will actually invest in those mines, that is why the smelter is the only profitable thing and this why he is selling this thing. And this is the same thing that happened to Luanshya, how Luanshya Mine was sold into pieces,” the source revealed. “This so called restructuring was already pre-planned and people must not be fooled. These people have sold the smelter which is worth $700 million to $800 million at peanuts.”
