- Zambia’s copper mining has benefitted from rising prices and a general shift towards electric motor vehicles.
- It is estimated that more than one million tonnes of copper will be mined in 2021 according to the Mines Minister Richard Musukwa.
Zambia’s copper mining has benefitted from rising prices and a general shift towards electric motor vehicles. It is estimated that more than one million tonnes of copper will be mined in 2021 according to Zambia’s Mines Minister Richard Musukwa. Zambia is the second biggest copper producer in Africa after DRC. As on September this year, Zambia mined over 640,000 tonnes of copper from a projected 880,000 tonnes for the year. He added that Zambia proposes to raise copper output to over one million tonnes in the short and medium-term to tap the opportunities offered by the stable mining regime in the 2021 National Budget and the rising demand for copper on the international metal market. The shift to electric vehicles would be a boon for the copper sector and Zambia is poised to gain from the increase in the global demand of copper.
Copper mining dominates Zambia’s economy and the government has been striving to stimulate the growth of the sector by luring local and foreign investment in mining and exploration. Recently, the state scrapped a 10 percent levy on imports of copper concentrates.
Zambia Chamber of Mines CEO Mr. Talent Ngandwe said that a focused effort on attracting substantial levels of investment in exploration and promoting local mining projects will bring immense benefits to the country in terms of socio-economic growth opportunities and public revenue. Minister Musukwa added that the recent discovery of gold deposits and other metals and minerals, boded well for diversification of the mining sector.
