That plan is opposed by the Zambia Chamber of Mines, whose members embody items of First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and Barrick Gold Corp. Earlier within the week, the chamber mentioned that in its present type, the brand new regulation would introduce “unaccountable and arbitrary” determination making.
The chamber met with Zambia’s Mines Ministry on Friday within the capital, Lusaka, to “attain an amicable settlement” on the contested clause. “The events have developed a roadmap for the decision of the matter inside the shortest time frame,” they mentioned in a joint assertion.
The chamber additionally criticized plans outlined final month by Mines Minister Paul Kabuswe for the federal government to arrange a state-owned agency to regulate no less than 30% of the output of crucial minerals, together with copper, from future mines. Zambia, Africa’s second-biggest copper producer, is focusing on a fourfold enhance in output of the metallic by early subsequent decade.
(By William Clowes and Taonga Mitimingi)