Zambia’s President Resolved to ‘Evict’ Copper Miner

(Bloomberg) -- Zambia will press ahead with the legal process to liquidate Vedanta Resources Ltd.’s local copper unit, President Edgar Lungu said, as a ruling about the matter was postponed to June 11.

“We are resolved, we are determined to proceed with the liquidation process,” Lungu said Tuesday in comments broadcast online. “We are going to make sure Vedanta goes and a new investor comes in.”

State-owned ZCCM Investments Holdings Plc won a provisional order to wind up Vedanta’s Konkola Copper Mines on May 21, three days after Lungu threatened the company with “divorce” for lying about expansion plans and cheating on taxes. Vedanta, owned by Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, says it’s a “loyal investor” that’s spent more than $3 billion in the country since 2004.

A High Court in the capital, Lusaka, dealt with preliminary issues on Tuesday but has not yet heard Vedanta’s application to join the case, which will be key to fighting the liquidation. The court is expected to deliver a ruling on June 11, according to an emailed statement from Vedanta.

At the same time, Vedanta has started a dispute resolution process against ZCCM-IH, which it accuses of violating a shareholders’ agreement -- the first step toward international arbitration between the two companies.

To contact the reporters on this story: Taonga Clifford Mitimingi in Johannesburg at tmitimingi@bloomberg.net;Matthew Hill in Maputo at mhill58@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Jacqueline Mackenzie

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