Bennet Simbeye
13 June 2005
Chiengi — ANVIL Mining Limited has been denied permission to prospect and mine copper in Chienge by Chief Puta of the Bwile people.
The company, which is currently mining copper across Lake Mweru in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), were denied permission after a meeting with the chief on Saturday.
This follows Anvil's attempt to renew its expired prospecting licence for the entire district, but was referred to the chief for permission to carry out the exercise.
Speaking at his palace, Chief Puta said Government through the Mines ministry should not issue licences without first consulting local authorities, who happened to be chiefs.
He said investors should first seek permission from the chiefs and councils before approaching Government for their licences.
"I have sent these people away because I believe their approach is inappropriate especially that they came here with an expired licence," he said.
Chief Puta warned that he would not allow anyone to go against this procedure because he feared that his area would not benefit from such investors.
And speaking when he met the chief, Luapula Province Minister Kennedy Sakeni agreed with the chief's decision not to consent with Anvil's plans.
Mr Sakeni said the original licence had covered the entire Chienge district and parts of Nchelenge.
He said the mining licence was too big for a single company to hold.
He said allowing the company with such a licence would entail that no other investor or small-scale miners would be issued with any licence as Anvil would hold it all to itself.
"I support the chief on this because we can't allow a company to solely extract minerals from our area without even proposing to set up any significant infrastructure," he said.
Mr Sakeni cited Anvil's current mining in DR Congo, where it only extracted the ore and processed it elsewhere.
He said if Anvil was serious about investing on the Zambian side, it should put up infrastructure, such as smelters to process the copper that would be extracted instead of only putting up an open pit mine.
"We cannot allow Zambian minerals to create wealth and employment elsewhere and leave our people destitute," he said.
Mr Sakeni expressed disappointment that Anvil wanted to create a monopoly of mining activities in the area at the expense of its development.
He said the area possessed high grade copper which translated into millions of tonnes of copper.
"Our land is rich so we can't lease it and not see any development," he added.
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