Sun, 24 Sep 2017 10:36:16 +0000
By SANDRA MACHIMA
A UNIQUE species of tree from India that can produce diesel fuel and other valuable by-products has been successfully planted at Konkola Copper Mine’s area of disused mine-land outside Chingola in its multi-million bio-diesel agro project.
This will see the planting of 400,000 of the trees over the next three years will be planted, and in the process expected to create approximately 2, 000 jobs in the local community.
KCM in partnership with land regeneration experts BetterWorld Energy Zambia has embarked on a US$7.5 million bio-diesel agro project to produce fuel.
KCM department responsible for the project head Anil Tripathi said the ambitious project was significant on three levels areas of environmental, social and economic.
“Environmentally, we are taking unproductive land and making it productive; socially, we are creating much-needed local employment; and economically, we are creating a portfolio of products essential for mining, agriculture and industry.”
Mr Tripathi The trees are expected to produce some 2 ½ million litres of diesel fuel a year for use by KCM’s mining operations, as well as various high-value pharmaceutical biochemical for export.
However, the disused mine-land consists of 700 hectares of waste rock and tailings (also known as mine dumps) left over from the mining operations of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) in the 1990s, prior to privatization, and at the land belonging to KCM.
