Youths deserve to run 'black mountains', Miles suggests

By Staff Reporter 

Matero lawmaker, Miles Sampa has suggested that the black mountains in Kitwe be given to youths as a way of empowering them. 

The Black Mountain is one of the old heaps of waste rock which piled in Kitwe’s Wusakile Township by the ZCCM before privatization. 

“The famous Black Mountain in Kitwe, accumulated as a ZCCM dump site during the Kaunda days,” recalls Mr. Sampa. 

In the recent past the Black Mountain was a source of livelihood for more than 1,000 youths without jobs in Kitwe. 

Mr. Sampa who is also former commerce, trade and industry deputy minister says with modern hi-tech copper processing equipment, over 10 million tonnes of ready to sell Copper ore can be extracted from the black mountains. 

In a statement monitored by WM Media Mr. Sampa says the black mountain should be given to youths unconditionally. 

“Let's empower our youths by giving them the Black 'Empowerment' Mountain unconditionally,” he suggests. 

Before the Patriotic Front (PF) government sold the black mountain to the Chinese investors, it used to be run by Kitwe youths popularly known us 'Jerabos'. 

Not long ago, when His Excellency the republican president, Edgar Chagwa Lungu visited Copperbelt for a week, Jerabos demanded to speak to him over the way forward about the black mountains. 

The Black Mountain was previously owned by Chambishi Metals Plc before it was sold to Nkana Alloy Smelting Company Limited. 

Nkana Alloy Smelting Company Limited acquired a large scale mining license No. 7071-HQ-LML over the slag dump through transfer from Chambishi Metals Plc. 

It is alleged that Nkana Alloy Smelting Company Limited is in the process of setting up a modern Copper, Zinc and Cobalt processing plant.