‘Kalumbila Mine land irregularly acquired’

” class=”f”>Times of Zambia by mitia on 6/20/13

By CATHERINE NYIRENDA –
A MINISTERIAL task force detailed to probe the acquisition of 50,000 hectares of land by First Quantum Minerals (FQM) for the Kalumbila Mine project in Solwezi established that there were serious irregularities in the manner land was acquired.
This has been revealed by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA), which put a halt to the development of the new mine following reports of irregularities involving FQM.
The ministerial task force gathered information on how land was acquired in North-Western Province where the construction of Chisola Dam was stopped last month.
FQM has since decided to lay off 500 workers at the Sentinel Mine project currently under construction.
The ministerial committee ordered that no approval should be issued on Kalumbila projects by any Government wing until the surface rights issues were resolved.
Following the revelation, ZEMA had been unable to approve any of Kalumbila’s additional projects, including Chisola Dam.
This is according to a statement released in Lusaka yesterday by ZEMA principal information and communication officer, Irene Chipili.
Ms Chipili was responding to FQM which complained about ZEMA’s delay to lift the environmental protection order on its Sentinel Mine project.
She said Kalumbila Minerals Limited obtained 50,000 hectares of land from Chief Musele in Solwezi and submitted an environmental impact assessment report for the mine, which was approved in 2011.
Ms Chipli said following the approval of the mine, Kalumbila applied to ZEMA for approval for additional components to the project which included Chisola Dam.
She said concerns were raised regarding the authorisation of the vast tract of land, compensation and resettlement of the people in the chiefdom that would be affected by the Kalumbila projects.
“For this reason, ZEMA suspended the process of decision making of the proposed Chisola Dam and associated projects so that the raised concerns can be addressed,” Ms Chipili said.
She said in response to these concerns, President Michael Sata set up an inter-ministerial task force headed by Chiefs and Traditional Affairs Minister, Nkandu Luo.
The task force included the ministers of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Wylbur Simuusa and Local Government and Housing’s Emerine Kabanshi to investigate the allegations.
The task force carried out investigations and found that Kalumbila Minerals Limited had in fact obtained the 50,000 hectares of land irregularly as no Presidential consent was given as required by law.
“Consequently, ZEMA has been unable to make approvals on any of Kalumbila’s additional projects, including the Chisola Dam, and in May this year the Agency issued an Environmental Protection Order
pursuant to Section 104 of the Environmental Management Act No. 12 of 2011 to First Quantum Minerals, who are the proponents of the project,” she said.
Ms Chipili said ZEMA would remain committed to preventing and controlling p