By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA –

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) has challenged Government to come up with a deliberate policy to encourage Zambian entrepreneurs to go into large-scale mining.
EITI Council member Sixtus Mulenga said Government should encourage and support the development of Zambian owned large-scale mining companies to create a sustainable base for economic development.
Speaking during an EITI working meeting at Ibis Gardens in Chisamba yesterday, Dr Mulenga said this will help citizens to become key players in the development of the Zambian mining sector.
“Mining is a very expensive industry and 100 per cent of our investments are driven by international companies and as we go forward, there is need for the Government to encourage Zambian entrepreneurs to take up the risk and go into large-scale copper production to ensure sustainable economic development,” Dr Mulenga said.
He also said Government should consider passing the EITI bill into law in order to ensure that mining companies attain performance benchmarks, production, financial and social investments.
This will enable Government to have a framework for calculating expected rightful tax and increasing accountability and transparency.
Dr Mulenga said prudent management of resources was critical to the development of the mining industry.
With regard to production, Government had completed a review of the mining industry and this would in future improve the way reporting on production was conducted.
Spreaking at the same function, Chamber of Mines of Zambia (CMZ) president Emmanuel Mutati said the reported copper production figures of 151,970 tonnes by small-scale mines as reflected in the EITI report of 2011 were not correct.
Mr Mutati said the Chamber was concerned about the wrong production data from small-scale mines because it is not true that they were able to produce such a figure.
He said there was need for EITI to improve on its data in relation to production figures.
“When the EITI validation process is being undertaken, we should make sure that the data that goes into these reports are accurate. I don’t think there is a problem with data from the major mines but we are concerned about the data from  small-scale mines,” Mr Mutati said.
“As a Chamber, we doubt that small-scale mines are able to produce 151,970 tonnes of finished copper. If we add the figures together with the 667,604 tonnes large mining companies produced, we don’t believe this country  produced 819,574 tonnes of finished copper in 2011. This is our concern,” Mr Mutati said.
He said it was important for EITI to be confident of the production figures that were reflecting in the report.