Ten die in mine landslide

Ten people have been buried alive in a major landslide at an open-pit copper mine in Zambia, news reports said on Monday. “At this point nothing is happening. We have experts on site waiting to start the rescue mission, to retrieve bodies and get the equipment out. None of these two tasks will start before late afternoon,” a mine safety official was quoted as saying.

Reports said a Zambian army team was also on standby to help with rescue operations, but any action depended on a safety status report. “The earth is still moving and there is a lot of water down there. We have massive mining equipment buried as well,” said Chipasha Kondolo, corporate affairs officer at Konkola Copper Mines. “The huge volumes of water are a major concern.”

The accident was the worst in years at the Nchanga Open Pit mine, which is operated by Konkola Copper Mines Plc, majority owned by Zambia Copper Investments, a unit of London-listed South African giant Anglo American Plc. Anglo American said in a statement that 10 people were missing after the landslide on Sunday, and added that it was unlikely that anyone had survived the accident. The Nchanga mine is around 450 km north of Lusaka. Konkola mines are forecasted to produce 240,000 mt this year, up from 125,000 mt in 2000.