LUSAKA: Zambia’s state mining arm ZCCM-IH plans to appeal a court ruling in favour of Vedanta, which has sought arbitration in a dispute over its jointly owned copper mine that is facing liquidation, the mining minister said.
India-based Vedanta has been locked in a protracted dispute with the Zambian government since May 2019, when Lusaka appointed a liquidator for the mine.
“ZCCM-IH has already indicated that they are appealing because they are not happy with the court judgment,” Mining Minister Richard Musukwa told parliament on Thursday.
Last week, a Zambian court ordered a halt to liquidation proceedings for Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) to allow Vedanta and ZCCM-IH, which owns 20% of the operation, to proceed to arbitration.
Potential buyers of KCM were awaiting a resolution to the dispute, Musukwa said, adding that steps taken by the government should not be “considered as nationalism”.
“It is still the government’s wish to find a new equity investor with technical and financial capacity to recapitalise the mine and operate it effectively,” he said.
Vedanta was not immediately available for comment.
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