Zambian state-owned investment sector will be the operator of future mines

SMM7 22 / PRNewswire-FirstCall-Asianet /-it is reported that in order to play a more active role in mineral assets, the Zambian state-owned investment department will operate mines as mineral operators rather than as minority investors.

Investment holding Company (ZCCM-IH), which is controlled by the industrial development company (IDC), is the country's mining investment arm and owns minority stakes in mines such as First Quantum,Kansanshi and Mopani. Its largest shareholding is Konkola copper mine (KCM), which owns 20.6 per cent, while Vedanta Resources owns the remaining 79.4 per cent.

Mateyo Kaluba, chief executive of IDC, said ZCCM-IH should find its own mine, explore and develop its mining business. This will give the company a higher stake in future mining companies. "We have no objection to their partnership, but these partnerships must be balanced," he added. Most of the partnerships currently owned by ZCCM-IH are uneven because of their small share.

The mining industry accounts for more than 10 per cent of Zambia's economy and is the country's largest source of foreign exchange earnings. However, despite the overall positive market outlook, production of Zambian copper, which dominates the country's export economy, fell to about 750000 tons in 2019 from 857847 tons in 2018, mainly due to mining taxes imposed by the government. mineral use taxes increased by 1.5 percentage points.

The lack of transparency and accountability in revenue management, the lack of consistency in fiscal policy and the lack of diversified support in the economy have also put pressure on the country's mining sector.

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