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Mining

The Zambia International Mining and Energy Conference and Exhibition-ZIMEC 2021 edition has been scheduled to take place from May 4-5 2021.

The Zambian leading mining and energy meeting, which has been taking place for the last decade, will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a virtual edition.

The organisers of ZIMEC 2021, notably the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development, Ministry of Energy, Chamber of Mines, Zambia in partnership with AME Trade Ltd, have decided for the safety of participants to organise this year’s edition online.

According to information made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, ZIMEC 2021, will feature a virtual exhibition, a networking application allowing for participants to contact each other directly and private meeting rooms.

AME Trade Limited marketing executive Graciela Silva said the main theme of ZIMEC 2021 will be “Dialogue and partnerships – unlocking investment, recovery and growth.”

She said this pertinent theme will examine the challenges of the relationship between the public and private sector, the financial recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and how to secure investment in post pandemic mining and energy sectors.

The conference sessions will focus on fiscal regimes, diversification of the mining sector, project finance, sustainability, environmental issues, the mining value chain, the downstream petroleum sector, innovation, and technology.

ZIMEC has welcomed more than 500 exhibitors and 5,000 delegates since its inception, the organisers of virtual edition, expect to return to the live event format in May 2022, in Kitwe.

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The Zambia International Mining and Energy Conference

Agribusiness

It is now undeniable that Beef, Poultry and generally the meat business is big business. The demand both in Zambia and the export market even to the neighboring countries keeps on expanding. So, why are Zambian’s with all the available land and suitable weather and climatic conditions not taking advantage of this lucrative and expanding market?

Experts are saying that Zambia needs to aggressively expand veterinary services and build more centers that farmers can easily take their animals or birds if the country is to realize the goal of becoming a net exporter of meat and meat products.

Livestock experts argue that just like human population growth is aided by provision of more hospitals and clinics to adequately deal with infant mortality and disease, so do animals also. Moreover, aggressive growth of the livestock sector will take to take on board small scale farmers who will need these veterinary and extension support services for their animal and bird populations to thrive.

A check with the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock through Permanent Secretary Dr. Benson Mwenya revealed that there is a lot of room for improvement in the provision of veterinary services as the country seeks to increase the animal population.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Dr. Mwenya said a country that has many animals should expect to have many diseases, therefore there is need to increase the number of veterinary hospitals if livestock population is to increase.

Dr. Mwenya said the ministry is focusing on putting up veterinary services in places that have a high animal population. He acknowledged that the country does not have enough veterinarians and most of the veterinary hospitals are private owned and are concentrated where there are many animals.

He said that Zambia has five regional veterinary laboratories and had veterinary offices in every district, which look at animal diseases, outbreaks and diagnostics.

“One is in Ndola which is not yet completed, one in Mongu, another in Kasama, Isoka, Choma and Chipata, these are regional laboratories, that’s what we have as a government”, he said.

He said the biggest laboratory in the country is the Central Veterinary Research Institute where samples are taken from district veterinary offices to do the analysis and once results are ready, they are sent back to the districts.

He added that government set up regional veterinary facilities so that instead of district offices taking samples to the Central Veterinary Research Institute, people can take their samples taken to the regional laboratories, which saves time and animal lives.

Dr. Mwenya said government tries to marry the number of animals to the facilities, therefore it focuses on putting up more veterinary facilities in places that have a high animal population, but it is now trying to put up livestock service centres in every corner of the country in order to improve service delivery and leverage the potential in some areas that have not historically had huge animal populations.

He mentioned that there are a few vet camps compared to agricultural camps, adding that some of these vet camps are huge, so government is planning to demarcate them into smaller camps so that veterinary personnel maintain each camp.

“We need to increase our animal population because we need to meet the demand and consume more milk and meat than we are consuming right now for nutritional purposes. Zambia can even start exporting and earn foreign exchange because there is a market outside”, he said.

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It is now undeniable that Beef, Poultry

Markets

The Capital Markets Association of Zambia – CMAZ has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that will see the two organizations partner and leverage the synergies that has previously not been fully exploited for the growth and development of capital markets in Zambia.

CMAZ Secretary who is also the Managing Director of Altus Capital Cecilia Siabusu said the country as a whole is lacking when it comes to financial literacy and the association would like to partner with ZBT to further educate the masses about the various products and services that are available for them.

Siabusu said many industries have been crippled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and as an association, CMAZ has continued to emphasize the need for people to save and invest for a rainy day.

Speaking during the MOU signing ceremony, Siabusu said people that have invested are not struggling as much as those who did not invest or prepare for such a time, therefore the need to educate and share information with more people on the importance of investing and the role that capital markets play.

She said the association wants to make the public aware of the various products and services that members of CMAZ are providing through this partnership with ZBT, as that will be one of the solutions to reducing the impact of the economic challenges people are facing during this period.

“Almost Everybody knows that they can have a bank savings account and everybody thinks that’s one way of saving but look at inflation now, inflation is over 20%, so if you are solely relying on money in a bank account, in the next one year, whatever amount you put aside will not be enough to buy you the things that you wanted”.

“However, if you are financially literate and aware of some of the products or solutions available, you would know that if you invested your money in the capital markets or in unit trusts, the interest you get will be around 20%, so you protect and maintain your purchasing power”, she said.

Speaking during the same event, ZBT General Manager Donald Mumba said the partnership aims to effectively contribute specifically to the growth of capital markets and generally deepening of financial literacy in Zambia.

Mumba said the need for establishing a developed and efficient capital market cannot be over emphasized if Zambia is to develop, therefore this partnership aims to contribute and add another chapter to the country’s desire to attain a faster paced development journey.

He said ZBT aims to partner with CMAZ to effectively contribute to the deepening of capital markets offerings as well as provide an independent platform for assessment and communication of credible and relevant information.

“ZBT as a business and professional media platform that has a print newspaper, a state of the art website as well as an active social media bundles via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter now has a reach of over 200k (200,000) unique people per month. This MOU with CMAZ will enable sharing of critical and cutting edge knowledge of financial markets in Zambia to reach the existing audience and well as filter through to the general public”, Mumba stated.

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The Capital Markets Association of Zambia -

Tech

The University of Zambia – UNZA has secured funding to completed the construction of additional hotels which had stalled following the countrywide re-scoping and suspension of some infrastructure projects.

UNZASU vice president who is currently the acting president confirmed that the revised date of completion for the new hostels which had stalled is end of this year 2021.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Time – ZBT, UNZASU acting President Gregory Chisha stated that Government through the office of the President released the funds two weeks ago. Chisha said K20 million has been pumped in to complete the 6 hostel at the University of Zambia.

He said for the past years the institution has been facing acute accommodation crisis due to limited hostels which will soon be history.

“The school has been facing a lot of challenges in terms of accommodation due to limited hostels and these additional hostels have been under construction for a long time. But with the coming of the government through the office of the President, this will soon be the history to the institution”, he told ZBT.

Chisha further stated that “as a student Union, we managed to engage the government to come to our aid regarding the hostel construction which had stalled. We appreciate the fact that government has now released the funds and this is the good move”.

He said the move by office of the president is a good move and it has been done at a right time because the completion of the new hostels will help the institution to have enough bed spaces on campus.

He added that with the coming of the first years this year, the Student Union is doing everything possible in order to help out the first year student. The student leader has since called upon various stakeholders to help the institution with face masks and hand sanitizers now that the first years are in school.

He said the school has put in some prevent measures to prevent the spread of the corona virus or Covid 19. “As a student Union, we are making sure that the students are masking up and we have also stationed some hand sanitizers in places which are frequently visited by students.

And Janet Banda, a third year student has said the pumping in of the money to complete the hostels is a good move because most of the student do not accommodation within school. She said from the time she has been at UNZA, some student who have accommodation outside the the university campus have been involved in road traffic accident on their way to school.

“During the time that have been at UNZA, about three to five students have been involved in road traffic accidents on their way to school because of not being accommodated on campus. But all this will come to an end or be greatly reduced by the end of this year,” she said.

Government had also initiated the construction of hostels at the Copperbelt University – CBU and the Evelyn Hone College. All these projects stalled but are expected to this year be completed following the line inclusion in the 2021 budget.

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The University of Zambia - UNZA has

Sport

Zambia Swimming Union (ZASU) president Guy Phiri has confirmed that the National Swimming Competition (NSC) is set to take place in April 2021 after the competition was put on hold in December 2020 due to the covid pandemic.

Phiri said the competition that is set to take place on April, 17, 2020 at an estimated cost of K220,000 at the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) will be without spectators as advised by the Ministry of Health due to covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times (ZBT), Phiri said the union is checking on how the top swimmers are doing, it is a good opportunity to get time for the top local swimmers so that we assess who is performing and who is not, and that helps with selection to national teams for international events.

“The event is going to be without spectators, which is unfortunate but because of limitations due to the covid pandemic, we have to be very careful on limiting the number at the event but we are going to be streaming the event.

“We haven’t had any entries yet, but we are expecting 30 clubs from around the country, so we are expecting to have 300 swimmers across the country to come and compete in the event,” Phiri told ZBT.

In terms of running the federation, we need support from the Sports Council of Zambia (SCZ), National Olympic Committee (NOC) and the mother body which is the International Federation for Swimming (IFS).

The union president said, the biggest challenge they are facing is to have public swimming pools in all provinces. We are appealing to government to consider having a public swimming pool to host competitive swimming in every provincial headquarters, which should be put together by the Ministry of Local Government and Housing through the council.

“We used to have swimming pools in all major towns and cities of Zambia, but the various councils leased them out to private investors, but most of these have also failed to run them successfully,” he said. He said the Olympic Swimming pool at OYDC has also been given to a private investor to do something with it, but the investor has completely failed, the pool lying in a terrible state.

Phiri said when it comes to spreading the sport across the country, the union has outreach programs, called “learn to swim program” where the union teaches people how to swim. He said the union also engages schools in swimming, which is predominated by coach’s associations to run the programs in schools and these Swimming coaches are well trained and qualified.

Phiri told ZBT that the union provides training for coaching and certification for the coachers. We also provide training for international coaching which is recognized worldwide and the union relies on the international trained coaches to implement programs within schools and when those school swimmers graduate, they become part of the national swimmers team and join registered clubs and compete in the national league.

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Zambia Swimming Union (ZASU) president Guy Phiri

Agribusiness

Zambia Seed Company Limited (Zamseed) has revealed that the good rainfall that has been experienced this year has recharged water tables and dams across the country, and this is expected to result in an increase of about 40% in wheat production.

The leading and oldest seed producer in Zambia further stated that the recently developed Harrier wheat variety has received positive feedback from farmers as it is one of the highly sought out varieties on the market.

Zamseed Director of Research Dr. Bhola Verma said the seed is of high quality, produces a highEd yield and farmers are able to harvest about 9 tonnes of wheat per hectare because there is no crop loss that will be experienced.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Verma said the harrier seed does not lodge or lay down on the ground no matter how much one irrigates or fertilises and this in turn leads to high yields and makes it easy to harvest because it remains standing.

Verma said the variety has good grain quality and is dependent on how much water and fertiliser one applies to it. He revealed that availability of water can be a challenge sometimes due to low rainfall which leads to water tables not been recharged and this may result in low production because some farmers end up reducing the planting area.

He however noted that due to the good rainfall that has been experienced this year, water tables have been recharged and dams are full, therefore it is expected that wheat production will increase by about 40% compared to the past three years as water was a limitation.

Verma further told ZBT that there are currently two dominating varieties on the market which are harrier and shungu which are selling very well. He also said that there is need for the wider market usage so people can benefit from the variety as Zambia has some of the best yields in the region.

He noted that a new wheat variety called falcon was introduced on the market last month and is also on high demand. He said the falcon seed variety is better than harrier in grain quality, has a higher yield and has less damage because of the long horns which destruct birds.

The Zamseed Director of Research added that when you increase the height of the crop, you get better yield too. He said that the new falcon wheat variety contains 14% protein and 35% gluten, which has market benefits.

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Zambia Seed Company Limited (Zamseed) has revealed

Mining

The Gemstones sector has initiated a phased re-opening process in line with global demand that is mostly driven by the vast Indian market.

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a far reaching impact on the gemstone sector with only about two companies remaining in operation at half capacity. Only the large scale mines have manage to keep some of their operations running

Currently only Grizzly mining limited is operating at half capacity while Kagem Mining suspended its critical operations since March last year due to the detrimental impact stemming from the pandemic.

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic all but critical operations at the mine have remained suspended since March 30, 2020 but now Kagem has since started reopening its principal operations in a phased manner starting in the second week of March 2021.

Emeralds and Semi-Precious Stones Mining Association of Zambia (ESMAZ) said not much has been happening in the gemstone sector since last year except for a few companies that have been operating at half capacity.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times- ZBT, ESMAZ president Victor Kalesha said due to the pandemic, companies are failing to sustain their operating capital as Indian buyers, who are the largest buyers, have not been able to travel as a result of the lockdown in that country.

“The sector is not doing well due to the effects of the outbreak of Covid-19, there’s literally not much that has been happening in the gemstone sector except for a few companies that have been operating at half capacity level.

“As usual, the Indian buyers are the ones that are more connected to the gemstone sector in Zambia, so if they are not coming, it means there is limited to no money flow for operations especially for the small scale miners who are almost closing down because some of them cannot even pump water on their own due to lack of funds,” Kalesha said.

He disclosed that currently, over 500 gemstone licenses have been issued across the country but only about one per cent were operational due to lack of operating capital and equipment. Kalesha appealed to the Government to find a window which it can use to support or empower the small scale miners to ensure that they do not completely close down.

“We have been facing a challenge of lack of operational capital and equipment, at the moment we are using pick and shovel, but it’s not ideal. So we are lobbying the government to find a window to empower the local miners in the gemstone sector” he said.

“We are also appealing to Zambian owned banks and financial institutions to be flexible in terms of giving out loans to Zambian entrepreneurs especially the local miners. Our members are unable to access loans because of the exorbitant interest rates and steep collateral requirements.

The banks, which in Zambia are mostly foreign owned are not willing to engage local miners and give loans because they feel that emerald and gemstones mining is a risky business,” he added.

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The Gemstones sector has initiated a phased

Companies

Tankers Drivers Union – TDU has refuted claims that local tanker drivers had planned to go on strike if Government did not implement the policy that reserves a 50% quota of awarding transportation contracts to locally based fuel transporters by all Oil marketing companies operating in the country.

However, the TDU has instead accused Oil Marketing Companies – OMCs of double standards and taking decisions that they are well aware will just cause discontent and lead to fuel shortages in the country.

TDU president Bob Ndalama said the union did not have any plans of going on strike but wanted to alert government that foreign fuel tanker drivers are being prioritized over the local tank drivers and companies.

The Union said the misunderstanding was caused by one of the tanker drivers, Billan Manengo, who said they will go on strike if government continued to prioritise foreign tank drivers over the local drivers.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambia Business Times (ZBT), Ndalama said the union is concerned that there is no order when it come to fuel or petroleum transportation in Zambia.

We have a situation were we note that when Zambian tank drivers go out to other countries to load fuel, from countries such as Tanzania or Mozambique to bring in the country, they are left out and only Tanzanian and Zimbabwean trucks are allowed to load fuel.

“We are not thinking of going on strike, all that the drivers wanted was to let the government know that while we are promoting foreigner truck drivers to work in Zambia, our own of local fuel tankers are packed,” the union leader said.

He said when government is talking about creating employment for the local people, the energy sector is moving in the opposite direction, because foreign tank drivers are being promoted or favored at the expense of the locals.

“If you go to Juba company you will find that trucks are parked, if you go to Kalif Motors or Swift Motors, you will find that trucks are parked and every other Zambian based transporting company that deals in the transportation of fuel products, you will find that trucks are parked,” he said.

Ndalama said only Zimbabwean Truck drivers are operating and if you look further, you will find that Zimbabwe does not own any company that provides fuel products to Zambia, they just go and pick it from Mozambique and bring it into Zambia.

He said from the look of things, somewhere somehow, there is a hand that is controlling the situation and government needs to be aware of such occurrence in the country because President Edgar Lungu is trying his level best to promote the local truck drivers and local employment.

Speaking in the same interview, TDU secretary general Humphrey Kapesha told ZBT that said government had a policy which allocated 50% of all transportation deals for fuel products imported into Zambia to be awarded to local transporters.

This was re-affirmed two months ago, suppliers were complaining that the landing cost of fuel into the country was too high and government had to put in measures so that the cost of landing fuel was reduced.

He said when approaching the government, the same OMCs were quoting prices for Zambian transporters and if you go around the garages, local trucks are parked, they are only giving business to Zimbabwean truck drivers.

Moreover, according to the SADC protocol, you will never find a foreign tanker carrying fuel going to Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwean government has reserved that sector strictly for locals. Go to Tanzania, Malawi it’s the same, so why should Zambia not simply reciprocate?.

Kepesha said government should take keen interest in the operations of OMCs as they have been trying to have the price of fuel increased even when there were measures that have been put in measures. Some of these OMCs are simply ignoring the governments directive, so there must be other interest they are serving.

He said government had removed 15% Value Added Tax (VAT) on petroleum imports and went further to remove duty on petroleum products, but unfortunately, these OMCs have now gone to hire Zimbabwean tanker drivers to bring fuel in Zambia, giving the excuse that Zambian transporters are expensive.

“Government should consider reciprocating what other countries are doing were only Zambian transporters are given first priority. The country now has because more capacity and volume. We have over 1000 trucks now, unlike some time back when we had limited trucks, local Zambian transporters have continued to invest in acquire more trucks horses and tankers”, Kepesha said.

He said government should come up with a policy to equally restrict foreign tankers and drivers from transporting fuel destined for Zambia for those countries that are not allowing Zambian transporter to truck in their goods and services. Let’s do so just like it is in South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, he told ZBT.

Energy minister Mathew Nkhuwa is on record to have threatened to withdraw Puma energy operating license in Zambia after it emerged that the OMC had consistently not replenished its retail service stations even after a deal had been struck to abolish VAT and other import duties and avert a fuel price hike.

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Tankers Drivers Union - TDU has refuted

Tech

The project to re-launch Zambia Airways as a National Airline has reached 90% completion stage and the board of directors will soon announce the revised date of launching the airline.

The plans to relaunch the National airline are still underway despite the delays in commencing the operations. Recently Government attributed the delays in launching the National airline to the Covid-19 pandemic, which had seen national airports shut across the world.

But Zambia Airways commercial manager Nobert Bwanga said the management were currently working on the regulatory requirements which were needed to fulfill before before commencing operations.

He said currently the project was sitting at about 85-90 per cent completion stage on all activities that are needed to be undertaken before operations commence.

Speaking in an interview with Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Bwanga said so far testing configuration and identification of offices had been done.

“So after we fulfill the regulatory requirements, we will wait for the board of directors to give us the new date for launch based on the progress we will have made and what we will have managed to achieve.

“We are currently working on finalizing these, but for us to start operations we are waiting for the board to advise, the board is expected to have a meeting either at the end of this month or at the beginning of next month,” he said.

The new airline is a joint venture between the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Ethiopian Airlines – ET. The joint venture is meant to facilitate best practice knowledge transfer as ET remain Africa’s most resilient and largest airline.

In 2018, the Government entered into a joint partnership with Ethiopian Airlines on a 55/45 equity deal. Zambia has had no national carrier since 1994 when the airline, Zambia Airways was liquidated.

The country has however invested over US$1 billion in rebuilding its airport infrastructure that has seen the Lusaka’s Kenneth Kaunda and Copperbelt’s Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airports have completely new modern international terminals while Livingstone Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula international airport already commissioned.

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The project to re-launch Zambia Airways as

Mining

Information has emerged that the much anticipated building up of gold reserves by the Bank of Zambia – BOZ risks being derailed as the biggest gold producer in Zambia, Kansanshi Mine (a subsidiary of First Quantum Minerals – FQM) is yet to start supplying gold to BOZ.

A check conducted by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT has revealed that the two parties seem to have hit a dead end in negotiations and finalizing for the delivery to start under turn gold purchase agreement due to a dispute on which currency is to be used for settlement or payment.

For the deal to make economic sense for the country, BOZ needs to buy the gold in the local currency – Kwacha while FQM seems to want to be paid in foreign currency – US dollars. The volatility of the Kwacha which has shed over 60% value in one year is likely to be the matter behind the dispute.

According to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was signed between the Bank of Zambia (BOZ) and Kansanshi Mine in 2020, the central bank is supposed to have commenced the purchase of gold by now. BOZ has so far only confirmed the purchase from Zambia Gold Company, a subsidiary of ZCCM-IH.

The Zambia central bank has maintained that it estimates to purchase around 25,200 ounces of gold from Kansanshi Copper and Gold Mine per year. According to information made available to ZBT by BOZ, the central bank has restated that the purchases of gold from Kansanshi Mine will be in Kwacha.

BOZ however said there is no set target of purchase in the medium term as this exercise is an ongoing process and will be dictated by the conditions set out in the respective gold purchase agreements. In addition, the central bank intends to purchase around 2,000 ounces of gold with a minimum of 88% purity from Zambia Gold Company per year.

Meanwhile, Kansanshi Mine Assistant General Manager John Gladston told ZBT in a separate discussion that the price of gold is always quoted in United States Dollars (US$) per troy ounce as determined by the London Bullion Market Association, adding that this is a global standard practice in gold trading.

Gladston was responding to a question on whether FQM’s Kanshanshi Mine would be able to sell its gold to BOZ in Kwacha, which is the local currency and preferred deal medium of exchange by Zambia in order to meaningfully build up gold reserves as an alternative to only holdings US dollar reserves.

BOZ new Governor Christopher Mvunga has been challenged to put in place a more aggressive gold buying plan to shore up Zambia’s gold reserves which can be used as a buffer to defend the Kwacha and restore the local currency value and ultimately the citizens incomes purchasing power.

Kansanshi in 2020 produced gold worth over US$210 million, which if mopped up by the central bank together with produce from Zambia Gold Company, can build up about US$1 billion in reserves within a five year period. This can turn around the ability of the central bank to defend the Kwacha value for the benefit of the majority of Zambians.

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Information has emerged that the much anticipated