Mist over Kayelekera Uranium Mine

Lotus Resources Limited, the managers of Kayelekera Uranium Mine in Karonga, maintains that it is still waiting for a response from government on their proposed mine development agreement (MDA).

However, the position is contrary to sentiments made to The Nation by the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources chairperson Werani Chilenga who indicated that there was a stalemate between the company through its subsidiary Lotus Africa Limited and the Malawi Government over carryover losses from initial owners Paladin Energy Limited.

He said Lotus wants to start its work with a clean sheet but the government has been insisting that the company acquired Kayelekera mine as it is; hence, should also proceed with the status quo.

Chilenga also faulted Lotus for delaying the finalisation of the MDA.

He said: “The company is currently making profits in Botswana while operations delay in Malawi.  They want government to take care of losses incurred by Paladin. But we are losing out as a country.”

Chilenga has since revealed that the committee will be engaging all parties during Parliament’s forthcoming budget meeting due to start on February 9.

In his reaction, Lotus Africa Limited director and country manager Grain Malunga said Chilenga’s sentiments were out of context, adding that Malawi is a speculative country.

He said they sent their proposal of an MDA to the Ministry of Mining and have been waiting for a response.

But Malunga, a former minister of Energy, could not divulge the contents of the proposal.

“It is premature to speak about something that is still in talks. Discussions are still ongoing. The MDA will be made public once it is completed,” he said.

Malunga also said Lotus as a company running the Kayelekera mine does not set the conditions for the agreement. He said it is rather their financiers, including banks, who demand such.

He said many financiers are involved in the process, revealing that Lotus was still engaging a number of them to hear out their conditionalities.

“Financial institutions make conditions for development of a mining MDA. If the government agrees then the MDA is signed. These loans from financiers also have a bearing on government revenue,” he said.

Lotus Resources Limited has a mining licence signed on September 1 2021. The agreement shows that from that date the company was supposed to have started substantial on-site mine development, within 18 months, and substantial mining production within 60 months.

In November 2021 the mining ministry said it was renegotiating and finalising the MDA.

In an earlier statement, the ministry said the country will have to wait a little longer to see resumption of uranium mining at Kayelekera as the Attorney General’s (AG) office was vetting MDAs between the government and the miners.

AG Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda yesterday referred the matter to the responsible ministry, but both Minister of Mining Monica Chang’anamuno and Principal Secretary Joseph Mkandawire neither picked our calls nor responded to queries sent through WhatsApp.