Hichilema’s meeting with Vedanta rekindles campaign trail mining promises

5 Views President Hakainde Hichilema has held talks with Vedanta Resources on scaling up operations at Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) and increasing the company’s contribution to Zambia’s copper and energy targets. Hichilema said he was “pleased to receive Pushpender Singla, Head of Strategy and Growth at Vedanta Resources” for discussions on further expansion and investment […]

5 Views

President Hakainde Hichilema has held talks with Vedanta Resources on scaling up operations at Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) and increasing the company’s contribution to Zambia’s copper and energy targets.

Hichilema said he was “pleased to receive Pushpender Singla, Head of Strategy and Growth at Vedanta Resources” for discussions on further expansion and investment at KCM.

According to him, Vedanta presented a progress report and outlined plans to ramp up production at the mine to 500,000 metric tonnes of copper.

“We received a report on their progress and further plans to take production towards 500,000 metric tonnes of copper production, adding considerably to our 3 million metric tonne target,” President Hichilema stated.

He said the 500,000-tonne output from KCM would form a significant part of government’s broader goal of producing 3 million metric tonnes of copper annually.

President Hichilema also urged Vedanta to move quickly on investing in power generation to support its mining operations.

“We encouraged Vedanta to expedite their plans to also invest in power generation to support their mining operations and contribute to our 10 gigawatt target,” he said.

He pointed out that yesterday’s meeting was part of wider government efforts to attract investment and grow key sectors of the economy.

“This, among other engagements, are aimed at driving our Grow Zambia Agenda,” Hichilema added.

Vedanta regained control of KCM in 2024 after a protracted legal dispute, and has since committed to recapitalizing the mine and clearing outstanding debts to suppliers and creditors.

While many viewed the meeting as routine business engagement, for others it revived memories of campaign promises made around Zambia’s mining sector.

Mining featured prominently during the last election campaign, with opposition parties criticizing what they termed poor policies and management of natural resources by the United Party for National Development administration.

President Hichilema’s main challenger in the August general elections, Brian Mundubile, pledged to hand over mining dumpsites such as the Black Mountain to youths if elected.

Speaking at a press briefing during the campaign period, Mundubile said undeveloped mining areas, commonly known as greenfield sites, would be allocated to investors so that youths could benefit more from dumpsites.

“To the youths mining gold, we will not come with guns. Instead, we will deal with those troubling you. We will not bring in an investor to mine at Black Mountain. The dumpsites are for our youths. Investors will be given greenfield sites,” he said.

He further claimed that Zambians had already decided to remove the ruling UPND from power in August because it had failed them, especially in areas like agriculture, mining and the economy at large.

The promises on mining and proposed policy shifts gave opposition leaders, especially Mundubile and his running mate Makebi Zulu, traction during campaigns. This was evident in the turnout at almost all their rallies.

President Hichilema’s engagement with Vedanta this week could therefore be seen as a move to deliver on mining commitments and secure a competitive edge for the benefit of Zambian citizens.