DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Copper mining companies operating in Zambia are expected to rehire around 10,000 miners who have been laid off in the last year as the effects of the global economic crisis start to ease and global copper prices recover, President of the Miners' Union of Zambia Rayford Mbulu said Thursday.
"We have at least been assured by Konkola Copper Mines and Mopani Copper Mines that they won't lay off more workers. On the contrary, they are moving ahead with expansion projects which will absorb redundant miners," Mbulu said.
The two mining companies are Zambia's leading copper producers and are majority-owned by Vedanta Resources PLC (VED.LN) and Glencore International AG, respectively.
Furthermore, NFC Africa Mining, a unit of China Nonferrous Metals Co. Ltd. (8306.HK), which took over Luanshya Copper Mines last week, and Equinox Minerals Ltd. (EQN.T), owner of the Lumwana Copper Mine, are also expected to take on more workers.
According to Gerald Mulwanda, a spokesman for Konkola Copper Mines, work on KCM's deep mining project remains on course for completion next year. It will not only triple the company's annual copper ore output but four new deep shafts required for the project are expected to create hundreds of jobs.
Mbulu said a single shaft employs around 500 miners, and the completion of the deep mine project could see as many as 2,000 workers taken on, although company officials couldn't confirm how many jobs would be created.
-By Nicholas Bariyo, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; +256 75 262 4615; bariyonic@yahoo.co.uk