Zambia projects to mine more than one million tonnes of copper in 2021 on the back of rising prices and a general shift towards electric motor vehicles in Asia, Europe and North America. Zambia – Africa’s second biggest copper producer after DRC – had at the close of September this year mined over 640,000 tonnes of copper from a projected 880,000 tonnes for the year.
According to the Mining Minister Musukwa this week told The Southern Times Business, given the assurances of a stable mining regime in the 2021 National Budget and the rising demand for copper on the international metal market, and the transition of the car manufacturing process that will require copper metal, they project to cash in and raise copper output to over one million tonnes in the short and medium-term.
Copper accounts for a huge chunk of Zambia’s economic output, and the government is continuously looking at ways of stimulating the subsector and the broader mining sector. Recently, the state scrapped a 10 percent levy on imports of copper concentrates.
An ongoing review of the Mines and Minerals Act seeks to, among other things, lure more local and foreign investment in mining and exploration. Zambia Chamber of Mines CEO Mr Talent Ngandwe said the shift to electric vehicles would be a boon for the copper sector.
In a report commissioned by the International Copper Association, Mr Ngandwe said, “This … will entail a focused effort on attracting substantial levels of investment in exploration and promoting local mining projects. If we expand the current number of players to double digits of major operating assets, this will bring important benefits to the country in terms of socioeconomic growth opportunities and public revenue.”
Zambia mined 215,22 tonnes of cobalt from January to September 2020, significantly less than the 296,26 tonnes in the same period last year. The decline has been attributed to operational challenges at Konkola Copper Mines.