Zambia's largest mining union has warned that it would opposed the government's attempts to bring in Vale, a Brazilian copper mining company, to operate in the southern African country, saying the company had no regards for human rights.

Brazilian President Lula da Silva recently visited Zambia and signed a number of agreements with the Zambian government, including an investment worth 600 million U.S. dollars in the mining industry.

But the Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ) said in a statement obtained by Xinhua on Wednesday that it will oppose attempts to bring the Brazilian investment in the country's mining industry.

"We have lots of information about Brazil and Brazilian investment. From Brazil emerges Vale, which is the second-largest producer of copper in the whole world. But Vale has got the worst human rights records in as far as investment in the mines is concerned," MUZ President Rayford Mbulu said.

He said much as they had been massive attraction of investment in the mining sector, the question of credibility of the investors that were being brought remained unanswered, adding that the Brazilian firm which had employed people under the United Steel Workers in Canada had subjected its employees to serious violations.

The mining union official said they had a firm belief that the Brazilian investor that would be coming into Zambia was Vale because the company was also conducting prospective processes in Mozambique and Tanzania and that it wanted to grow its presence in the southern African region.

"If we lack ideas to extract our copper, it is better for it to remain in the ground so that our children can come and extract it. If Vale can do what they are doing in Canada which is a first world country, what about Zambia which is a third world country," he said.

Zambia is Africa's largest copper producer with the output accounting for about 70 percent of the country's foreign exchange earnings.

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