LONDON (Reuters) – Relations between the Zambian government and its copper mining sector have just taken a turn for the worse. “If it is the will of the Zambian people that we divorce with these mines, then we will do so.”
President Edgar Lungu has swiftly followed through on his threat with a move to liquidate Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), the local operating unit of India’s Vedanta and one of the country’s biggest producers.
Government officials have been quick to stress that this does not amount to the nationalisation of KCM’s assets but inevitably it has led to comparisons with the last time the Zambian state took control of its copper sector in 1969.
What followed were years of structural decline as systemic under-investment saw the country’s production collapse from over 700,000 tonnes per year to less than 250,000 tonnes at the end of the 20th century.
The subsequent recovery has returned Zambia to one of the world’s largest producing nations, meaning Lungu’s proposed “divorce” could have significant ramifications both on copper supply and price.
For the rest of this column: https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-zambia-copper-ahome/column-zambia-turns-up-the-nationalist-heat-on-its-copper-miners-idUKKCN1SZ1IM