has revoked the licenses Collum Coal mine, a Chinese-owned coal mine 200 miles south of Lusaka, due to violations of safety and environmental laws and the failure to pay mineral royalties.

According to the country’s Minister of Mines,Energy and Water Development, Yamfwa Mukanga; the government had taken over the three mines owned by Collum mine and it will “continue operating them until a suitable investor is found.”

Mukanga said the mine has a history of poor safety, health and environmental compliance, mainly due to the employment of non qualified personnel.

He said, “In some instances the entire mine has been closed to allow the mine management to comply with mine safety department directives, but there has been no improvement.”

Other offences include non-availability of emergency medical treatment facilities such as ambulances or a first aid station underground., and Collum’s failure to declare its mineral production as required for all mining companies under Zambian law.

Zambia has a troubled history with China investors. This is as a result of the strained relationship often caused by Zambian workers protests on Chinese management practices. Some of the disagreements have centered on the issue of poor wages and pitiable working conditions.

In August 2012, a miner was charged for killing a Chinese supervisor and 11 others during a protest over pay at the Collum Coal mine. A visit to the mine in 2006 caused a local government minister to cry on television saying workers were “kicked and beaten as though they are not human beings”.

In 2010, Chinese managers shot at protesting workers. Charges against the alleged culprits were subsequently dropped; fuelling opposition politicians’ claims that the then-president Rupiah Banda too soft on the Chinese, Financial Times reported.

Government had, earlier this month, threatened to close Collum Coal mine  due to its envisaged poor safety standard after mine workers demanded that the government take over the running of the mine because the Chinese owners had failed to run it properly.

This is in relation to the death of a mine worker which Zambia’s  Minister of Mines and Mineral Development, Wylbur Simuusa, said “could have been avoided easily”.

“Mining is a specialised field and you need technical people…but because of lack of proper supervision, you find that the owners of this mine were doing things that are unacceptable. Going forward, we will ensure that the mining industry is properly supervised,” Simuusa had said on his visit to the ill-fated mine.

However, Mukanga said little progress has since being made since the government threatened to close the mine.

“In some instances [in recent months] the entire mine has been closed to allow the mine management (to) comply with mine safety department directives, but there has been no improvement”, he said.

“The owners of this mine are embarrassing the profession. They are also embarrassing the Chinese government who sent them here because Zambia and China have got at working relationship. “I don’t know of any other mine which has been so problematic like this one, Simuusa had told Zambia’s Post.