(3 Minutes Read)
The Association of Zambian Mineral Exploration Companies and the Zambia Chamber of Mines say the bill will be a setback to the government’s copper production strategy.
Two prominent Zambian mining agencies warn that Zambia will revert to long-term policy instability and mining investment stagnation if the country’s proposed Minerals Regulation Commission Bill is not amended. The Association of Zambian Mineral Exploration Companies (AZMEC) and the Zambia Chamber of Mines (ZCM) in a joint statement said Zambia’s exploration and mining risks are set to increase.
If the Minerals Regulation Commission Bill is passed into law in its current form, the signal to the mining investment community – local and global – will be clear: Zambia is neither policy stable nor is it done with expropriating mining investors assets, the agencies said.Zambia’s mines ministry has not commented on this development.
Zambia’s government has proposed a new Minerals Regulation Commission Bill, which seeks to regulate and monitor the development and management of mineral resources. But AZMEC and ZCM insist the bill would “drive up the perception of investment risk in Zambia, and therefore the cost of capital for every business in the country, adding it would deliver a fatal blow to the government’s ambitious strategy of increasing copper production to 3 million tonnes.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/zambia-signs-deal-with-irh-to-revamp-mopani-copper-mines/
President Hakainde Hichilema’s government says it seeks to repair the country’s investment reputation and ramp up copper production. Zambia is Africa’s second-biggest copper producer and copper output in the country has dropped to 698,000 tonnes in 2023 from 763,000 tonnes the previous year, according to data from the Zambia Chamber of Mines.
