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ZAMBIA-MINING-ACCIDENT LEAD
At least 10 killed in Zambia mine dump collapse: police
LUSAKA, June 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – At least 10 subsistence miners were
killed when a mine dump known locally as Black Mountain collapsed in Zambia’s
second-largest city and copperbelt mining hub Kitwe on Wednesday, police
said.
The vast mound of dark earth in the country’s northeast has become an
economic lifeline for thousands of people who make a living from activities
that local media report have been partially legalised.
“So far we have retrieved 10 dead bodies and seven bodies of those
injured,” said Copperbelt Province police commissioner Charity Katanga.
Operations to retrieve bodies were ongoing, she added.
Local media reported that ministers were forced to step in last month
after small-scale miners began using explosives to extract copper from the
mine dump, damaging nearby properties and possibly dislodging the mound.
– ‘A lot of illegal mining’ –
Zambia has some of the world’s largest copper reserves and the metal
accounts for as much as 80 percent of the country’s export earnings.
High levels of unemployment have forced people to resort to illegal mining
and in 2009 eight miners were killed in a similar incident.
“What we have are options on the table on how to deal with the Black
Mountain. What is true also is that there is a lot of illegal mining taking
place there which has to be stopped,” former mining minister Christopher
Yaluma told the Lusaka Times previously.
“We are also aware that young people need jobs to sustain their lives but,
of course, generation of income needs to be done within the law.”
After posting average annual growth rates of more than 10 percent in the
2000s, Zambian growth slowed significantly around 2011 due to falling copper
prices.
A drop in copper prices of almost one-third from their peak in February
2011 resulted in thousands of job losses in the mining industry, where most
companies are owned by foreign, notably Chinese, investors.
But Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe has forecast growth will
accelerate to four percent in 2018 as copper prices begin to recover. The
price of a kilo of copper has risen exponentially on international markets in
recent years — mainly because of growing demand from China and India.
A pound of copper currently sells for $3.14 (2.74 euros), according to the
InfoMine service.
That has made communications and power cables a valuable target, both for
major gangs that steal large quantities from depots, as well as small-time
thieves.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1856 hrs