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FQM to invest $100 million in nickel mine project
Solwezi, March 29TH, 2014, ZANIS —- First Quantum Minerals(FQM) says it intends to invest a total of $100 million dollars in its proposed nickel mine project in Kalumbila, west of Solwezi District .
Once operational the Enterprise nickel mine project will produce between 38 and 60 thousand tonnes of nickel per year for a period of ten years.
Kalumibila minerals environmental manager Joseph Ngwira confirmed this during the public disclosure meeting on the Environment Impact Assessment report in Solwezi District today.
Mr. Ngwira said the project will result in the creation of 500 temporal jobs at construction stage and 300 new permanent ones once the mine is operational.
The Enterprise nickel project will be developed 6 kilometres west of the sentinel mine which is currently under construction.
However some members of the public expressed dissatisfaction at FQM’s mitigation measures to limit possible pollution of nearby rivers by effluents from the proposed nickel mine.
Mr. Chadwell Kapaka, member of the council of elders said he feared that the effluents from the mine operations might flow in nearby Kabompo River which is a source of drinking water and livelihood for the local people.
FQM through its subsidiary Kalumbila minerals limited intends to develop the enterprise nickel project as part of its second phase of the Trident project.
The sentinel project which is being developed is scheduled for commissioning in July this year will be the largest open pit mining in the country while the Intrepid copper deposit is the last phase of the project that FQM intends to develop.
