By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA –
THE Chamber of Mines of Zambia (CMZ) is discussing with the Zambia
Revenue Authority (ZRA), Central Statistic Office (CSO) and the
Ministry of Mines to improve on the production data.
Chief executive officer Maureen Dlamini, who noted Zambia’s drop
to eighth position as largest producers of copper in the world, said
there was need to improve on local statistics for the sector.
“We are working with various stakeholders to improve on the production
data for the mining industry and we want the information to be sitting
at the Ministry of Mines,” she said.
She said during the chamber’s dissemination workshop in Lusaka
yesterday that accurate production figures for the sector were
cardinal.
Ms Dlamini said the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had displaced
Zambia as the seventh largest producer of copper, but Chile was still
holding the first position.
She said the shift in the ranking was attributed to high cost of production.
Ms Dlamini said DRC was now producing more copper than Zambia, saying
their costs of production were much lower.
She said with everything remaining equal, Zambia was expected to
produce 1.5 million tonnes of copper by 2016.
CMZ president Emmanuel Mutati said in excess of US$8 billion had been
invested since the privatisation of the mines by the new owners adding
that the investments were spent on upgrading of the infrastructure and
operations of the mines.
He said most of the resources were spent on new mines and for
expansion of the operations.
“This has been most noticeable in the North-Western Province. Resulting
from this investment, annual finished production has risen from a low
of 257,000 tonnes per annum to over 700,000 tonnes in 2013,” he said.
Mr Mutati said the country had great exploration potential for copper
and other minerals, saying that was evidenced by the flurry of activity
in most parts of the country and also the number of international
companies engaged in prospecting activities,” he said.
Mr Mutati said this was critical for the continuous inflow of Foreign
Direct Investment in the mining sector.
