More than 200 miners employed by London Listed Vedanta Resources’ Konkola Copper Mines in Zambia, Africa’s largest copper producer escaped death during a power outage that affected the copper rich country on November 8th 2011.

And more than 3,000 tonnes of copper production was lost by mining companies operating in Zambia during the power outage while several mining companies resorted to using emergence power applications to avert excess loss of production and save human lives.

According to power producers, Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation 220 miners escaped death when a cage they were traveling in while at their place of work jammed because of power failure. There were no deaths or serious injuries recorded during the incident at Nchanga mine, although the two cages were forced to come to a standstill for lack of power. The power outage which engulfed the country yesterday resulted from a power system disturbance at Kabwe step-down substation which affected Kariba North Bank and Kafue Gorge Power stations.

The power utility company known as Mr Betty Phiri director of corporate affairs and business development of Zesco said that the disturbance caused the Kariba North Bank and Kafue Gorge Power Stations to trip as a standard protection measure.

Zambia in the morning experienced a partial power outage except for Southern and Western provinces. The power outage affected radio and television transmission for about 30 minutes but Zesco engineers took steps to restore power supply progressively in all the affected areas. The emergency generation systems were brought into operation and additional emergency power was secured from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The statement said that about 220 miners at Nchanga underground temporarily trapped in two cages were promptly evacuated to safety without any incident during the power outage. Normal power was fully restored around 10.30 hours and resumption of production commenced in phases.

Mr Phiri said that we wish to thank our customers for their patience during the outage period. Because of the outage, some of Zesco clients could have experienced meter tripping as a result of an inbuilt protective mechanism.

Experts said that the power outage was unfortunate and that it could have caused people’s lives. The experts urged the power utility company to ensure countervailing initiatives and equipment was put in place to avert loss of equipment and human lives.

(Filed by Mr Kapembwa Sinkamba SteelGuru Correspondent Zambia)