CAPE TOWN, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Zambia is keen to negotiate larger holdings in new mining projects in order to raise its revenue and boost spending by investors on social projects, mines minister Paul Kabuswe said. The push by Lusaka through state-owned ZCCM-IH, would apply to future agreements, but does not include existing mines and should not unnerve investors, Kabuswe told Reuters.
Zambia is Africa’s second-largest copper producer after neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and ZCCM has interests of 10% to 20% in mines including those owned by Barrick Gold, Vedanta Resources and First Quantum Minerals.
ZCCM sold a 51% stake in Mopani Copper Mines to a unit of United Arab Emirates’ International Holding Company, retaining the remainder, which previously belonged to Glencore.
“Stakes in new tenements will actually be moulded around such kind of partnerships,” Kabuswe said in an interview on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Africa Mining Indaba. “We want to make sure that there is win-win, that there is no slave-master relationship and we also want to make sure that there’s social impact,” he added.
For the rest of this article: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/zambia-set-negotiate-bigger-stakes-new-mining-projects-2024-02-06/