By JOHN SAKALA
Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) has appointed new Chief Executive Officer to take over from Deshnee Naidoo who was seeing the entire Africa.
The name for the new CEO has not yet been unveiled but is coming from India.
KCM Corporate Affairs General Manager Eugene Chungu has confirmed the development to The Independent Observer in an interview.
Mr Chungu said Ms Naidoo will still continue until a CEO dedicated to Zambia alone is found.
He said South African operations for Vedanta are growing and Ms Naidoo has been aligned to focus on South Africa.
“Vedanta has pledged further investment of R21billion in South Africa and she can not do this management in piece meal. She needs to be fully dedicated.
“In the same manner the Group has a heightened need to accelerate growth at KCM and specifically the desire to see the Konkola asset begin to generate returns for the group. The new Group CEO, Venkat, has this as a major Key Performance Indicator (KPI),” he said.
Mr Chungu said Vedanta wants KCM to begin generating positive cash flows and not just continue being backed financially by the Group.
He said this year alone, the group has supported KCM with a cash injection of over $180 million.
“Since the new Group CEO arrived in August he has given KCM $80m. This group support is appreciated but we need to be sustainable and that is why everyone is focusing on growing production to beyond 12500 per month, if we are to stabilize the business and set ourselves up for success. This is being driven by safe 400+ campaign,” he said.
