By JOHN SAKALA
Rudra Copper Limited Managing Director Siddharth Patel says the mine plans to be the first in Zambia to be exacting copper and cobalt and exporting its finished products.
Mr Patel plans to do the same for the $20 million avocado project where he wants to be exporting finished products from the fruit.
Speaking with The Independent Observer in an interview today July 22, 2020, Mr Patel said the $41 million mining project will be life transforming for the people of Chingola.
He said initially Rudra has invested $11 million to begin the mining project this September.
He said Rudra which is located near Libonji Creations, will be using modern type of mining called floatation where underground water won’t be polluted and there is equally no emission from the plant.
Mr Patel said the community need not to worry about environmental impact as the plant will be a fully integrated copper industry with little or no waste as the by product will be transformed into pavers and other construction related materials.
“We don’t have much slag to prolong the mining activities at the site but we will be outsourcing both cobalt and copper from small scale miners of Chingola and other towns to sustain our operation. Our intention is to be exporting cobalt and copper finished products like copper cables.
“In the initial project of $11 million we will create ready market for the small scale miners whilst maintaining steady flow of copper concentrate to the mining companies. But three years down the line, we will actualize the processing of copper and cobalt into finished products. This will create jobs for the locals that will be working at the plant,” he said.
Mr Patel said the avocado production is equally meant for export purposes of finished products like avocado oil.
He said the avocado project will start between 2021 and 2022.
“This project will be done through an out grower scheme due to an increased demand for avocado oil on the international markets,” he said.
