Chinese open second mine at Chambishi

Chinese state-owned mining companies officially launched a second copper mine at Chambishi on Saturday. The West Orebody Project will be run by the same company, NFC-A as runs the existing mine. Total investment for the project is US$100 million. Construction is expected to take three years, and once operational, the mine will will provide 1,500 new job opportunities for the local people.

Xinhua new agency reports that Zambian Vice President Rupiah Banda attended the opening ceremony in Kitwe, as did Chinese Ambassador Li Qiangmin, chief executive officer (CEO) of Zambia-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone (ZCCZ) Tao Xinghu and CEO of NFC-A Luo Xingeng. All pressed the idea of a win-win relationship between Zambia and China. However, after struggles over working conditions, and particularly over casualisation and union-busting by NFC-A, described in the For Whom the Windfalls? report, minewatchers will want to keep a close eye on whether the project uses local or Chinese labour, management, parts and suppliers, and on the terms of employment in the mine.

More UK media coverage

An excellent article by Nick Mathiason in Sunday's Observer newspaper, reports both on social conditions in mine townships and on the new Undermining Deverlopment? report. The article, titled 'Zambia's new bid to cash in on copper' quotes For Whom the Windfalls? author Professor John Lungu amongst others. It suggests that the re-negotiation process has started, but that Government representatives feel they have nothing but moral pressure to strengthen their hand in the talks. As discussed previously in this blog, that approach appears to underestimate the degree to which the companies themselves are already in breach of their existing contracts.

A detailed story on the Undermining Development? newsletter is also featured in the Ekklesia newsletter.

Zambian campaign moves up a notch

The For Whom the Windfalls? report has recently been re-published in Zambia, and the campaign re-launched, with public forums held on :
- Tuesday 23rd October at Edinburgh Hotel, Kitwe,
- Thursday 25th October at Savoy Hotel, Ndola
- Friday 26th October at Protea Hotel, Chingola

The meetings also saw the launch of a new baseline study by CCJDP-Ndola, the Zambian Congress of Trade Unions, Mineworkers Union of Zambia and DeCOP. This research was led by Dr Mitulo Silengo. I hope to post a copy of this research on the site soon. Further plans for regional and international conferences on the Copperbelt and in Lusaka are in the pipeline.

Ex-World Bank Director Paul Collier supports re-negotiation

Speaking at the Battle of Ideas last weekend, Paul Collier, former Director of the Development Research group at the World Bank and more recently senior advisor to the Blair Commission on Africa, argued that the Development Agreements signed by Zambia with copper mining companies were a disgrace, and should be re-negotiated. Collier who has recently attracted attention with his book, 'The Bottom Billion' blamed his former employers at the World Bank for posting their most junior economists as advisors on the privatisation. Collier claimed that he is actively campaigning on this issue. I will try to follow up to see what that means, and will post on this blog if I get a reply.

UK Campaign makes immediate splash

The new Undermining Development? report has made an immediate splash in the UK media. A long and highly sympathetic piece: ‘Zambia does the work. But who makes the money?’ appeared in The Glasgow Herald on Saturday 26^th October.
Have a look at the interesting comments sent in by readers in response to the article as well.

Tribute to Teelo Ross, 'For Whom the Windfalls?' designer

It is with sadness that I have to report the sudden and tragic death last week of Teelo Ross, who was killed in a traffic accident in Lusaka.

Teelo designed and managed the production of the For Whom the Windfalls? report. He was a lover of life before he was an artist, and an artist before he was a graphic designer (he was one of Lusaka's finest graphic designers, as anyone who has seen his striking and cheeky billboard adverts for Chilanga Cement or The Post newspaper will know). That meant he was a perfectionist about how the report looked, and he did a beautiful job of making it come to life with his images and lay-out.

He also cared deeply about the subject of the report, having been born in Ndola. As we sat up late trying to make a ridiculously tight production deadline for the report (we failed, as anyone at the bookless book-launch in the Pamodzi will know!), Teelo shared with me his anger at the current state of the places he knew when he was younger, and the conditions in which his friends on the Copperbelt lived and worked.
I will miss him. A tribute site to Teelo on the Facebook website is here.

Alastair

Undermining Development

Readers will be interested to learn that the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF), Christian Aid and Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA), with the support of Zambian civil society, have just published a major report – Undermining Development? – on why Zambia fails to derive the benefits that it should from its enormous copper reserves. The focus of the report is KCM, Zambia’s biggest copper company – majority-owned by a UK-based company, Vedanta Resources. The report finds disturbing evidence of contracts signed under pressure from international donors, environmental agreements that allow multinationals to bypass local laws, and workers who receive little reward for gruelling hours of physical labour.

MineWatchZambia has made the reports available for download. The full report is available, along with an executive summary. We will let you know soon where hard copies of the report can be obtained from.

This is the beginning of a major campaign for SCIAF: click here for more information about the 'e-action' they are organising to follow up on their report.