This article from the Zambia Daily Mail appears to clarify the dispute at Munali. As for as I am aware the extra 500 hectares in discussion has no impact on anything that we would consider tangible at this stage.
EL
‘Munali Nickel mine EIA not ready’ By GEORGE MUMBA
THE Environmental Council of Zambia(ECZ) has said the environmental impact assessment(EIA) study at Albidon Nickel mine in Mazabuka is still going on .
Speaking in an interview in Lusaka, ECZ director Edward Zulu said the assessment of the area was going on smoothly.
Mr Zulu could not however disclose how long the assessment programme would take but stressed that results would be published as soon as the assessment was concluded.
He said a lot of things would have to be assessed during the course of the assessment before the report was ready.
On whether ECZ would hold a public hearing in the area, Mr Zulu said it would not because it had already held a public hearing in the area.
The ECZ decided to seek another EIA reports at Munali Nickel following reports that the mine had applied for an additional 500 hectares besides the 1,600 hectares that was subjected to an EIA and approved.
The assessment follows the refusal by opposition United Party for National Development councillors in Mazabuka to increase the mine area to 2100 hectares despite the same councillors having earlier approved the increased land.
The civic leaders later changed saying Albidon should be given 1600 hectares while the remaining 500 hectors should be subjected to another EIA.
They argued that the decision to approve the 2100 hectors of land to Albidon was done in haste as they were not given enough time to study motion and the technicalities.
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