A privately-owned power transmission company accused the Zambian government of taking steps to expropriate its assets, as a dispute over supplies to a key mine in Africa’s second-biggest copper producer escalated.
The feud is centered around electricity provision to Konkola Copper Mines, the Vedanta Resources unit that the government placed under liquidation a year ago, and which has a $144-million unpaid power bill. It’s also the latest in clashes between the government and the country’s copper mining industry, which accounts for more than 70% of foreign-exchange earnings but which the government has accused of failing to fairly spread wealth.