Vedanta's Zambia Unit Halts Underground Work Due to Reduced Power

Zambia's Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) has suspended underground work at its Nchanga mine due to flooding caused by reduced electricity supply stemming from a dispute with Copperbelt Energy Corp (CEC).

Copperbelt Energy restricted power to the mine on Saturday over an unpaid electricity bill, forcing KCM - a unit of Vedanta Resources - to shut down its Nchanga concentrator.

KCM said on Tuesday it had lost nearly 500 tonnes of copper output valued at more than $3.3 million.

"Resulting from the CEC unilateral power restriction and the flooding this has caused, KCM has suspended mining operations at the Nchanga underground," KCM spokesman Shapi Shachinda said in a statement.

It would take weeks to drain the water from the shaft and even longer to resume normal operations, Shachinda said, adding that power had since been restored due the risk it posed to miners trapped underground.

Copperbelt Energy has said KCM refused to make payments for electricity it consumed between April 2014 and now, accumulating electricity bills totalling $44 million.

KCM last week lost a court application to stop Copperbelt, one of the biggest power suppliers to mines in Zambia, from cutting its electricity over the disputed bills.

KCM, which produced 160,000 tonnes of copper in 2013, also owns a smelter at Nchanga and a refinery at Nkana.

(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Mark Potter)