A source at the ministry of mines has told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that First Quantum Minerals (FQM) – Trident Kalumbila Mine who have recently announced the opening of a $800million per annum Nickel mine got the licence from the ministry of mines as far back as 2011.
The source further revealed that the licence was issued [during the Movement for Multiparty Democracy – MMD administration] on 20 April 2011 and valid for 25 years until 2036. So, the mine still has another 14 years to operate.
When asked what Minerals the licence covered seeing that FQM has been mining and declaring copper at its Kalumbila – Trident Mine, the source indicated that the large scale mining licence covered not only copper but Nickel, Cobalt, Gold, Silver and Iron.
The FQM Trident large scale mining licence further has a coverage of 94,725 hectares. The mine is currently Zambia’s largest copper miner and it has also emerged to be Zambia’s significant gold miner with significant gold production numbers from its Kasanshi mine located in Solwezi.
Mining license fees as governments non-tax revenue line remain low such that they don’t even make national budget sub heading. Some mining stakeholders have been calling for the establishment of a mining regulatory agency that can enhance the regulation of the over $8 billion annual copper revenue industry that the country continued to struggle to leverage.
