By JUDITH NAMUTOWE –

KONKOLA Copper Mines (KCM) has between March and August, 2015 received US$60 million Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds from the Government.
KCM chief executive officer Stephen Din said the company has been receiving $10 million VAT refunds from Government monthly from March to August this year.
Mr Din said this during a KCM media briefing in Lusaka yesterday.
He said the development therefore, leaves $280 million outstanding for 28 months from between August 2013 and February 2015.
“We have been receiving $10 million VAT refunds on a monthly basis and so far, we have received $60 million for six months. This gives us the balance of about 28 months which we have not received,” Mr Din said.
He said this was impacting negatively on revenues.
KCM has invested $3 billion in Zambia in the last 10 years in various mining activities which includes the Konkola Deep Mine Project (KDMP) which is yet to be commissioned.
He said KCM was trying to get to the deepest point of 1,150 metres below the ground.
Mr Din further assured that KCM was not going to close down operations regardless of the challenges the mining company was faced with.
“I must assure that the mining company is not closing. We are not going anywhere,  we are here to stay,” he said.
Mr Din said the mining company was currently operating at a loss due to power outages, but that the company had put in place energy saving measures.
He said the challenges the company was facing had reduced the mine’s profitability by $2 million per month.
Mr Din also said sometime back, KCM did  put in place some backup facilities like producing  about 24 mega watts of power at the cost of $4 million.
Meanwhile, Development Consultant Isaac Ngoma said there was need for Government to support the mining sector to navigate the turbulent times, considering that the mining sector was hard pressed.
Mr Ngoma who is past president for  Economic Association of Zambia (EAZ) said this would be  helpful to  manage expectations, curtail the misinformation and consider other options for economic  survival  in the recent   short to medium  term.
He said there was need to tighten fiscal control, adopt austerity measures that cut unnecessary expenditure and enhance discipline.
“Mining is the backbone of Zambia’s economy, hence its  demise will have a  catastrophic impact on the economy as seen before,” Mr Ngoma said.