BEHIND KANSANSHI
Kansanshi prides itself on having a diverse and multicultural employee base with various backgrounds and stemming from a variety of nationalities. Following the company’s core values of being Bolder, Smarter, Driven and Together, Kansanshi’s staff members understand that they are part of a greater whole that is integral to the company’s culture and empowering for every individual associated.
“Our people are our greatest asset, and because of this, we make sure that we encourage them to do and be the best they can, while supporting them across the business,” Kasengele tells us proudly. “Safety comes before all else. We make sure that our employees are empowered to act and work safely through a mixture of educative guidance and materials, reinforced by our company slogan: ‘no job is so important that it cannot be done safely’.
“In line with this, we have 12 ‘Think Fatal’ dangers that highlight hazards found in the workplace, and we make sure that staff know that if a situation is not safe to work, no one should work until it is restored.”
On top of this critical element of daily operation, Kansanshi helps motivate its workforce with a sense of collective achievement through teamwork.
“At Kansanshi, we set our employees clear goals and targets early in the year in line with corporate, company and departmental targets which helps everyone maintain a vision and sense of drive in their work,” McGerald Mvula, Supply Chain Manager at Kansanshi continues. “And in recognition of hard work, our many leadership programmes remind our staff that they can achieve anything that they set out to.
“Both leadership and mentorship programmes are available to all employees. For now, we host four levels of leadership programmes: internal graduate, local graduate, general manager leadership programmes, and business improvement programmes. Each of these is designed to promote the skills of individuals and provide Kansanshi with top-class business leaders. As for mentorship, we have management and superintendents mentoring and coaching young high-potential employees to help them gain the necessary skills and experience to grow into fine business leaders of tomorrow.”
Amid the focus on safety and progression, Kansanshi ensures that its employees feel valued and rewarded for their efforts. Various forms of incentive schemes and programmes are in place to reward outstanding performance.
“The Kansanshi deposit is the site of one of the oldest copper mines in the whole of Zambia and dates back to the fourth century A.D”
Anthony Mukutuma, General Manager, Kansanshi Mining Plc
A HISTORY IN THE COPPERBELT
Mvula has been associated, and indeed part of, the copper mining space for a long time, with the industry having existed as a part of his childhood, and standing as a defining factor to influence his future career.
“I grew up on the Copperbelt and supported a mine sponsored team, Nkana football club,” he tells us. “My father, a miner, would bring me a seasonal ticket to watch our favourite sport – football. Everything revolved around mining during my childhood. I graduated in electrical engineering and worked in the copper electro-winning processes and the smelter in 2000. I was eager for growth, and it occurred to me that a commercial path could be the best way to combine my technical and business skills.”
From electrical engineering, Mvula moved into a materials engineer role that launched his transition into a commercial role.
“I have worked mostly in mining with brief stints in cement and electrical utilities,” he continues. “The impact of having technical acumen combined with business made me a highly attractive talent and I grew very quickly in the ranks to the Supply Chain Manager position.
“My role mainly includes creating an interface between the business and the external stakeholders (suppliers, manufacturers, regulators etc). It also involves interpreting the end-user requirements into scopes and inquiries that are sent to the suppliers for goods and services the business requires. This role interfaces with the various other requirements of the business in meeting our objectives of safety, quality, environment, production, corporate social responsibility (CSR), cost and value management in relation to our dealings with external stakeholders.”
Throughout his time with Kansanshi, Mvula has recognised that people form the bedrock of success for the business, and that each of them are critical to the future of the company.
DRIVING SUSTAINABILITY
For companies around the globe, especially those within heavy industries such as mining, the topic of sustainability has never been so prominent and important to address.
New technologies that promote efficient and clean activities have taken the limelight not only from an ethical standpoint but also operationally, proving their worth as green and effective tools and methods to incorporate into business. In this new age of development, it is the beginning of an adaptive journey for heavy industry companies to recognise the necessity of change and accommodate it.
For Kansanshi, not only is it important to address such a change, but the company also realises its critical role in helping this international change taking place.
“When you take an overall look at the mining industry in Zambia, it is a very exciting space to work in, especially the copper sector,” reflects Arnold Malambo, Environmental Manager at Kansanshi. “There is a current global push for decarbonisation and the mining industry is poised to be the major contributor to realising that vison. The negative effects of fossil fuels drive the need to evolve and change the energy mix. Also, the economic drive for value addition in Zambia brings our extractive industry to the centre of the discourse for economic growth and development.
“Copper is critical in the global drive towards energy change, and we are at the heart of African copper mining.”
CONTINUING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Internally, Kansanshi is undergoing changes to best promote environmental practices both directly and indirectly.
Kansanshi is implementing an environmental management system (EMS) which is aligned with the ISO14001:2015 standard and subject to external compliance audits to keep them in check.
Key aspects of the company’s environmental programme include maintaining compliance with host country laws and regulations, and Kansanshi’s own environmental policy and international guidelines and standards, and sound baseline environmental and social risk assessments and mitigation strategies, among many others.
For Kansanshi, the continuation of sustainable development is a definite element of the company’s future.
“The business will continue with the current interventions, and expand the support where necessary, but remain open to other innovative ideas that would be adopted in the course of the current year,” affirms Malambo.
“Copper is the kingpin in the global drive towards energy change, and we are at the heart of African copper mining”Arnold Malambo, Environmental Manager, Kansanshi Mining Plc
A RESPONSIBILITY BEYOND BUSINESS
For such a global company operating within the mining space, CSR becomes an integral part of helping the people, community and environment that Kansanshi is associated with.
Not only does mining involve a considerable number of operatives and skilled personnel, but it also revolves around the process of breaking open the earth in order to retrieve and filter valuable minerals and metals. This naturally can cause a detrimental impact on the surrounding natural world if not handled properly or carefully, and therefore, mine operators have an important duty to uphold environmental values alongside their operations.
Equally, the welfare, safety and involvement of people (especially those local to the region in question) must continue to be a core focus of such companies, who must strive to integrate the business into the associated communities to further the betterment of host communities.
“The mining industry is more involved than ever in diverse service provision and social investments that span a wide spectrum: health, education, agriculture, livelihoods, gender, infrastructure and many more. This makes working in the space only more exciting,” Victor Nsana, CSR Superintendent at Kansanshi, tells us. “Through working alongside institutions in these various areas, we give back to the people and environment, while integrating our operations with the wider community.
“Everything from hiring and training skilled local staff to educating the community on safety and environmental practices helps bolster a better mining industry in Zambia.”
Within this bracket also falls the many suppliers and partners that Kansanshi works with to achieve its business and operational success.
“In an industry such as mining, with a diverse, growing and dynamic growing base of stakeholders, relationships are important,” Nsana explains. “The relationships allow for a clear understanding of stakeholder aspirations, concerns and objectives, and these can be addressed for the mutual benefit of all parties.
“Incorporating our suppliers into our CSR activities allows our entire business chain to get involved with ensuring the best safety standards, employee and community welfare, and sustainable practices company-wide.”
A PATH TO MINING
Nsana didn’t begin his career in the mining space. After working in the textile industry, he studied environmental health and became involved with community work, especially regarding raising awareness around community health and hygiene, immunisations and public health interventions. This was Nsana’s first experience of serving communities to help better the welfare and lives of the people therein.
“I later resigned and joined World Vision Zambia where I worked as a Development Facilitator. During my time there, I studied Development Practice at the University of South Africa (UNISA),” he tells us. “I was keenly interested in the community liaison work which the mining industry had started doing around communities in the Solwezi district. My interest grew to the point that I applied for a job and was hired as Assistant Community Liaison Officer. I rose through the ranks to the position of Senior Supervisor in the CSR Department.
“I am currently involved in supervisory functions and directly engaging with stakeholders, including governments, civil society organisations (CSOs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), faith-based organisations and community leadership. I have been in the industry for close to 14 years now. I love my job and it is both exciting and fulfilling for me to work here at Kansanshi.”
“Our people are our greatest asset, and because of this, we make sure that we encourage them to do and be the best they can, while supporting them across the business”Teza Kasengele, Safety Manager, Kansanshi Mining Plc
