Zambia Konkola miners halt work over wages

LUSAKA (Reuters) - Miners at Zambia's Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc, stopped work briefly on Tuesday in a protest over wages, disrupting some mining operations, KCM, Zambia's largest copper producer, said.

KCM spokesman Rahur Kharkar said operations at the Nchanga open pit mine, the tailings leach plant and concentrator were briefly halted after miners stopped work to demand an update on wage negotiations between management and unions.

Kharkar said some workers had reported for the Tuesday night shift. KCM was still assessing losses in production.

"Some workers started throwing stones and police had to be called in. The solution to this is not violence but negotiations. We are still assessing how this affected production, but the smelter has been running normally," Kharkar told Reuters.

The Mine Workers Union of Zambia (MUZ) president Rayford Mbulu said the union would have talks with management.

KCM has several projects aimed at raising output, including developing Konkola Deep Mine Project (KDMP), which it hopes to bring on stream by 2010.

The company, which operates the Konkola copper mine, the satellite Fitwaola mine and the Nampundwe pyrite mine, has also started reclaiming refractory ores at the Nchanga open pit to produce more copper.