Re: Victor Ndlovu
Undisclosed number of miners from Mopani Copper Mines, which is majority owned by United Arab Emirates’ International Resources Holding, and at another Chinese mine who were trapped underground following a nationwide power outage have been rescued.
According to the country’s energy permanent secretary Peter Mumba, the reason for the outage was being investigated, however, all of the trapped miners had been rescued. He added that the outage could not have been caused by power generation at the Kariba dam as the output there was very low.
Zambia’s largest hydroelectric facility, the Kariba North Bank Power Station, which has an installed capacity of 1,080 MW, is currently generating only 120 MW due to water shortages.
“We are merely keeping the plant operational with one unit, and even that is not running at full capacity,” Mukupa Mulenga, the station’s maintenance manager told Reuters.
Zambia experienced a nationwide blackout caused by a power system disturbance, the country’s state utility, Zesco, announced on Sunday. The outage also impacted neighboring Zimbabwe.
The two countries are enduring extended electricity rationing due to the region’s worst drought in decades, which has severely impacted hydropower generation.
Power supply to all mining companies in Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer, was fully restored by approximately 01:30 GMT and to the rest of the country by 04:00 GMT, according to Zesco Acting Managing Director Justin Longo.
Longo stated that the cause of the outage was under investigation, noting it was unlikely to have originated from power generation at the Kariba Dam, as its output was already very low.
