MCM Leach plant re-opens - Will company pay for failures?

The Lusaka Times reports that the Environmental Council of Zambia have inspected improvements in equipment at Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) and will allow the plant to re-open. Since the replacement of one pump with two was a condition established by the ECZ in April 2005 (see blog of January 9 2008), and that condition was flouted until now, and since, as the report makes clear, Mopani have not sufferred any reduction in production while sourcing new parts, it remains unclear how or whether the ECZ plan to 'punish' Mopani.