PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda has said he is impressed with the high performance of Zambia’s mining sector, which has been boosted by sound measures and policies implemented by his Government. President Banda said his Government’s policies through privatisation, a revised tax regime and a more effective way of collecting revenues from the mines had boosted the performance of the sector.
He said the decisions undertaken by the Government in the sector were meant to ensure the Zambian people benefited from the country’s natural resources. This is contained in a statement released in Lusaka yesterday by special assistant to the president for Press and public relations Dickson Jere.
“The people of Zambia want reassurance that one of our richest natural resources yields benefits, which can assist, with the development of other sectors and the provision of vital social services.
“Mining is enjoying a period of steady growth and it is right the sector makes an appropriate contribution to revenues,” he said.
And Mr Jere said World-renowned business news service Dow Jones has also applauded Zambia’s copper mining successes in an article released yesterday.
Mr Jere said the statement-highlighted Zambia’s impressive copper output, which is expected to hit 740,000 tonnes up from 696,900 tonnes last year due to increased production at several copper mines.
He said the report repeated comments made by Zambia’s secretary to the Treasury at the Ministry of Finance and National Planning Likolo Ndalamei, who revealed that copper output was expected to keep rising due to the resumption of operations at Luanshya Copper Mines as well as increasing production at copper mines on the Copperbelt and North-Western provinces.
Zambia’s copper production in the first half of 2010 increased by 10.2 per cent to reach 363,682 tonnes compared with 330,125 tonnes produced in the same period a year earlier.
The copper mining sector continues to recover and rising global copper prices had induced mines to increase production.
Mr Jere said the future picture for Zambia’s mines also looked healthy, with the recent reopening of Luanshya Copper Mines following its takeover by Chinese-owned NFC Africa.
He said the company announced in July this year that it intended to invest at least $500 million to develop Chambishi South copper mine on the Copperbelt Province.