The costs and risks of doing business in the Copperbelt region of Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo have risen substantially due to a crime wave sparked by a government decision to ban exports of ore and concentrate, and to insist that some value is added locally. An unintended consequence is that loads of copper blister and anodes are acting as a magnet to local and international syndicates. The situation is so bad that most hauliers will only allow their satellite-tracked trucks to travel in convoys protected by armed guards – with movement restricted to daylight hours. Cargo owners have also switched to rail, which is proving safer than road. According to a report published in Organised Crime Watch, a newsletter produced by the Organised Crime and Money Laundering Programme of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), organised crime networks are “deeply entrenched in the business of mining copper ore”. The networks are “involved in a range of criminal activities, ranging from rampant white-collar crime to blatant theft of machinery, accessories and fuel – and, of course, the illegal mining and theft of copper ore and concentrate,” it says. Confirming what FTW was told by a number of Zambian operators, the report says “the imprint” of organised crime is seen in the theft of highvalue cargo. “The buying of concentrate and anodes appears to be dominated by Chinese buyers, who own smelters in the industrial areas of Kitwe and Ndola, where the concentrate and anodes are rebranded,” it says. Stolen copper loads are quickly remelted in any of an estimated 30 illegal smelters (and some unethical legal operations) in the Copperbelt, and mixed in with copper from other sources, to make it impossible to trace the origin of the metal. The products are then exported, mostly to China. Truck drivers have been identified by both the report and FTW sources as being implicated in a number of so-called “hijackings” of vehicles. “They stop laden trucks at buyers’ delivery points, but later claim to have been hijacked; they have also been known to simply dump the trucks and run away,” says the report. Drivers can also divert trucks of copper ore or empty the high-grade ore and reload with low-grade ore or plain earth. The tentacles reach down to South Africa. The report cites a case of a truck of concentrate, which was diverted by a driver while in transit for export packaging. It was sold to a Zambian buyer, who in turn sold it to a group of Chinese traders. The Chinese had already sent the ore to Johannesburg en-route to China by the time the police investigations led to them. The ore was impounded by Interpol in Johannesburg, according to Organised Crime Watch. Zambian authorities have also promised to clamp down on the theft of copper and illegal mining, which is also rife in the area.
