Mr Maxwell Mwale mines and minerals development minister of Zambia has said that the underground mining operations at Albidon's Munali Nickel Mine that shut operations a week ago will remain suspended for the next three weeks.

Mr Mwale said that operations at the mine were suspended after ventilation problems that were experienced in the underground section of the mine. Ventilation fans at had to be switched off after a sink hole was discovered to have caused the fault. Miners were evacuated for safety reasons and no injuries were recorded.

He said that other operations including the concentrator would remain fully operational to maximize on the stockpiles of the metal that they had been pulled out of the mine in recent weeks.

Mr Tony Weber GM of Nickel Mine Assistant was explained earlier that operations were suspended on June 18th 2011 for safety reasons. This was after some faults were detected in the ventilation process which could have affected underground production of nickel metal. We'll be closed for about three weeks and for now we are expecting other mine experts to come and assess the situation.

He said that the mine recently experienced work stoppage by the workers who demanded improved conditions of service. Management obliged and gave workers about 12% across the board among other conditions.

(Sourced from allafrica.com)