Glencore Zambia unit plans to cut 4 300 jobs

Lusaka - Mopani Copper Mines, the Zambian unit of Glencore [JSE:GLN], plans to cut 4 300 jobs, National Union for Miners and Allied Workers President James Chansa said by phone Monday.

A local spokesperson for Mopani wasn’t immediately able to comment when contacted by phone. Calls to government officials including Mines Minister Christopher Yaluma and Labour Minister Fackson Shamenda didn’t connect.

Mopani is the biggest mining employer in Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer, with 20 000 workers, half of them contractors.

Glencore plans to suspend its operations in Zambia and at Katanga Mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo for 18 months, the company said on September 7. Katanga Mining will retain 80% of its workforce during the halt, it said on September 11.

Chishimba Kambwili, a government spokesperson, on Sunday threatened to suspend the mining license of CNMC Luanshya Copper Mines if it didn’t rescind a decision to halt operations at its Baluba mine, where it sent over 1 600 workers on leave.

Glencore was yet to officially notify the government of its intentions, Kambwili said on state television.