The Musangu Foundation is delighted to announce that we have secured our first founding Diamond Partners. Consolidated Mining and Investments Ltd (CMI) in conjunction with Consolidated Nickel Mines (CNM), the group behind the Munali Nickel Mine in Zambia, has made the decision to support the establishment of the Musangu Foundation, taking up our first Diamond Partner places.

As part of our long-term partnership CMI and CNM have invested over $30,000 in the Musangu Foundation to help kick-start the Foundation’s seed projects in and around the Mazabuka District of Zambia. Simon Purkiss, Chief Executive Officer of CMI said ‘we take our CSR very seriously, and aside from our in-house social investment programme, which focuses on the immediate vicinity around our mine, we are thrilled to provide further support to the wider communities in Mazabuka District. The Foundation’s involvement is a welcome addition to the area, widening our own social impact and I very much look forward to working with them on future projects.

Part of the investment will be used to expand a small cook stove pilot study conducted in Q4 2015 with 10 families in Southern Province in Zambia. The pilot investigated cooking habits, cooking equipment and fuel sources of rural households. The aim of the pilot study was to assess the opportunity and need within the communities to introduce a more energy efficient cooking stove and alternative fuel sources.

The new 2016 pilot will incorporate the results of the 2015 study and trial 2 different types of cooking stoves and alternative renewable fuel types. The trial stoves include an affordable energy efficient multi-fuel biomass stove for use in rural communities and a biomass pellet stove for urban and peri-urban communities. Working with African led, in-country partners to produce the stoves and pellets, the pilot aims to reach around 200 families in order to test the scalability and robustness of the Pilot with the view to rolling out the full Project to the District in 2017.

‘I’m particularly supportive of the foundations long-term livelihood projects. A risk often experienced by mining companies operating in developing countries, in particular in rural regions, is the potential for communities to become dependent on the mine for social investment and community development. When the mine closes this can become a significant issue and result in loss of direct and indirect employment, along with on-going support for community initiatives. CNM are very aware of this and are keen to proactively support organisations and initiatives which focus on sustainable livelihood creation and the development of alternative economic income which is not dependent on the mine.’ said Craig Bailey, Chief Operating Officer of CNM.

To find out more about the Stove Project or any of the other initiatives we have underway, please visit the `Projects` section of the website.

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