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Mining

The wanton award of tax and non-tax incentives to large scale mining companies by successive Zambian governments has resulted in over 20,000 employees and ex-employees of two large mining companies to miss out on the National Pension Scheme Authority – NAPSA partial withdrawal benefits even after working for over 10 years.

Over 20,000 Konkola Copper Mines – KCM and Mopani Copper Mines – MCM employees and ex-employees are unable to claim for their NAPSA partial withdraw benefits after working for over 10 years for the two mining houses.

After the signing into law of the National Pension Scheme Amendment Bill 2023 which allows for the partial withdrawal of pensions, about 12, 000 KCM employees & ex-employees (at the time under Vedanta) and over 10, 000 Mopani (at the time under Glencore) employees and ex-employees do not qualify for NAPSA partial withdrawal, at 20 percent, of the retirement benefits by beneficiaries who made 60 months contributions to NAPSA or have attained the age of 45.

On the 17th of April 2023, the President of the Republic of Zambia, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema announced the signing into law of the National Pension Scheme Amendment Bill 2023 allows for the partial withdrawal of pensions.

As stated by President Hichilema, the new law will give citizens the opportunity to re-invest the funds into various ventures and assets of their choice. As a result, this will inject liquidity into the economy thereby, more jobs will be created, contributing to the national economic development agenda.

However, the Zambian Business Times – ZBT can exclusively disclose that about 22, 000 KCM and Mopani employees will miss out of cashing out of their pre-retirement Lump sum benefit due to waivers that were given to these large scale copper mines.

The National Union of Miners and Allied Workers – NUMAW president SAUL SIMUJIKA confirmed to ZBT in an exclusive interview that both KCM and Mopani from sometime in 2004, had a waiver for remitting NAPSA, so they were not remitting both employer and employee contributions, meaning people were not getting any deductions.

Simujika added that the two mines were however not breaking the law because they were given that waiver by [the MMD administration] Government, meaning they were still acting within the law and waivers given to them.

“People [and the two mining companies] never contributed and they can’t claim because they didn’t contribute from somewhere from 2004 up to about 2015 when KONKOLA Copper Mine (KCM) and Mopani Copper Mine (MCM) started remitting statutory contributions for their workers to the National Pensions Scheme Authority (NAPSA).”

This followed Government‘s move to sign Statutory Instrument (SI) number one of 2014 which revoked the exemption of the two mining companies from contributing to NAPSA.

He said everybody who was working there during that period are unable to claim for their benefits and remember the two mines had thousands of employees but after somewhere in 2014 when the two mines resumed the contributions, people started receiving deductions.

For KCM around that time, it had over 12 000 and about 10 000 employees for Mopani and all these are unable to get their benefits though most of them have even retired and only those that are still in employment qualify for the benefit after the contribution was reversed.

When asked about the position of the union Simujika said, “It is not something that we can negotiate because it is Government that had given KCM and Mopani waiver so there is nothing that we can do.”

There has been documented historical misdeeds by both Vedanta and Glencore to local suppliers and employees, with accusations of arm twisting government officials and not paying taxes but reports are indicating that these same firms are plotting a return to Zambia after being exited. This NAPSA issue is just but one of the glaring examples of misdeeds.

Meanwhile efforts to get a comment from KCM Management on how many employees are able to claim their NAPSA benefits since the signing into law of the National Pension Scheme Amendment Bill 2023 which allows for the partial withdrawal of pensions, proved futile by press time.

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The wanton award of tax and non-tax

Tech

Within a space of three weeks, Airtel Networks Zambia Plc has once again walked away with four awards, this time from the Zambia Institute of Marking (ZIM) prestigious awards night held over the weekend in Livingstone. 

Consumers voted “My Airtel App” as the popular winner in 3 categories of ‘Best Brand Campaign of the Year’, the ‘Best Digital Campaign of the Year’ and the ‘Best TV Ad of the Year’.

In a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, by Airtel’s Head – Corporate Communications Yuyo Nachali-Kambikambi, Airtel Zambia also was recognised for its “Fraud Awareness Campaign” which won the ‘Best Radio Ad of the Year.’

Airtel’s Head of Brand and Communication, Maxwell Ng’ambi, was named “Marketing Personality” of the Year for his contribution to the Marketing industry.

Speaking about the awards, Airtel Zambia Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Mr Hussam Baday said: “We are excited once again to receive awards recognising our efforts as a Company.”

Baday said Airtel’s aim is to continue playing its part in enabling connectivity and thereby supporting economic growth as envisaged in the 8th National Development Plan. He said Airtel is committed to providing the best customer experience through a superior network and best Service.

“The Airtel App is a fine example of impactful digital innovations done at Airtel that makes lives for customers simpler and improves the experience. As more and more people graduate to smart phones, the Airtel app allows that convenience of managing their own and their families’ subscriptions. Also using the app makes sending money safer as you are less likely to make mistakes.”

He added that, “As for the Campaign on Fraud Awareness, in conjunction with our regulators, we have continued to educate customers through our various channels like SMS and all our social media handles on any emerging fraud types.”

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Within a space of three weeks, Airtel

Lifestyle

The United Party for National Development UPND Solwezi East Member of Parliament says residents of Mushindamo including himself are surviving on Kandolo (sweet potatoes) as they are unable to access the country’s staple food.

UPND MP Dr Alex Katakwe said life has become unbearable for the people in Mushindamo District of North-Western Province of Zambia, as they are unable to access mealie meal due to commodity shortage in the District adding that the situation on the ground has become very bad on the ground.

 He told the Zambian Business Times in an interview that, “There is no mealie meal here as we speak because there has been some strict measures by the Zambia National service ZNS when it comes to transportation of mealie meal in the District and People who go to buy the commodity from Solwezi by the time they reach the ZNS check point the commodity is either confiscated or urged to get it back to Solwezi.” He said added that some people when they reach the check point they go through the bush just in order to survive and that is why I thought the only solution is to engage the ZNS.

He added that, “People have been crying to me their area Member of Parliament saying that they voted for change and that they are not seeing anything tangible happening and I have been engaging the Permanent secretary, minister of agriculture and ZNS to see how best we can have the commodity in the shortest period of time.” Can you imagine I have also failed to buy mealie for the time I have been here and we have been eating Kandolo and ifilashi because there is no mealie meal and there is no shop in Mushindamo today where you can find mealie meal.

He attributed this to unrestricted exporting of the commodity before Government announced the ban and the strict measures that have now been put by the Zambia National service to curb the commodity crisis in the country.

Before the restriction of export of mealie meal into DRC, the bag of mealie meal here was going between k250 and k280 although the road was too bad such that only one truck would manage to deliver within one month.  

The mealie meal was costing about k250 and k280 on the Zambian side but our colleagues from the DRC they would buy in bulky and those who do not have shops at the border they would just take in trucks and off load on the trucks from DRC.

Because we do not have many locals with shops at the boarder where they can use them as outlets with genuine papers, many would be subjected to do illegal kind of business without papers where they just offload mealie meal to the DRC trucks who stock it in their country and then the Zambian people begin to buy again the commodity when there is a shortage and that is why the commodity price was high when it was available.

Not only that but sometimes the Congolese would come and sell the mealie on the Zambia soil and determine the cost which has been actually very unfair and to that effect I have been calling the councils to up their game when it comes to regulating the prices at the border as the Congolese would come and sell using their currency which to me I feel we have been a little bit week on the Zambian side.

Asked on the short term measures being put in place to resolve the situation, Dr Katakwe said, “There was some recommendation that we ask the ministry through cabinet that we ask some big local shops that has got trading mealie meal license to be given the right to procure and stock the commodity and sell at the correct and affordable price for the sake of the people of Mushindamo.”

So we are hoping as we meet the ZNS we engage them so that they can do the verification of the shops and hopefully by next week we need to see some mealie meal being offloaded in those particular shops with strict monitoring to ensure that the commodity is not smuggled to DRC.

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The United Party for National Development UPND

Tech

Solwezi East United Party for National Development UPND Member of Parliament Dr Alex Katakwe has disclosed that the feasibility study for the developing of the Solwezi Kipushi road and the Kipushi Border post have been concluded and the documents have since been submitted to the ministry of finance and infrastructure.

The Solwezi Kipushi road is an economic road which connects Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo-DRC in North Western province via Kipushi border Post. The project is part of the roads Government targets to do under the Private Public Partnership PPP.

Kipushi border lies about 130 kilometers east of Solwezi, the provincial capital of North-Western province. It has great potential to boost government revenue, if given the required border facility.

The need to improve the road linkage between Zambia and the DRC will not only provide export routes for commodities but also provide effective business flow between the two countries.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times, Dr Katakwe said as the area Member of Parliament with passion to see development in the District he pushed for unsolicited biding as the issue for PPP has its own long processes.

“I started pushing because this issue for PPP has its own long processes so i pushed in for unsolicited biding that means government is not spending any money for feasibility study and the ground work.” He said, right now we have advanced and the documents have since been submitted to the Minister of Finance and national planning, Road Development Agency RDA and the Ministry of infrastructure among others.

We are at the evaluation stage meaning when I submitted as a first applicant for the PPP under unsolicited for biding I took the slot and no one can come underground and push for that and beside it would take quite long.

Dr Katakwe noted that the Government evaluation processes take a little bit longer but hoped and expected that the signing ceremony should be done latest June this year 2023.  

He explained that with the current state of the Border post where it is restricted and only operating on Tuesday and Fridays the country has continued losing out the much needed revenue with the current state of the road and the Kipushi border post which is currently restricted there by denying business in and out of the country through this point.  

“The President has got keen interest for the road and the border post but we don’t expect these roads to be opened through finances from the Government because of the Financial Constraints. So we will not definitely see the government coming in quickly to do these kinds of roads and the development projects and that is why we Members of Parliament with passion for development we have gone the PPP way and we don’t need to wait for the President to advertise the PPP as we need to go the way I have gone which is unsolicited biding while in contact with the president through his ministry and cabinet.”

There are more advantages of the Solwezi Kipushi boarder as trucks would prefer to use the kipushi road than go through the Kasumbalesa with its bottlenecks where by the time it reaches Katimamulilo it takes about a week when it only takes about 2 days for a truck to move from Kipushi to katimamulilo boarder post.

When asked about the Constituency Development Funds, Dr Katakwe added that because of the poor road network in Mushindamo and waiting for the PPP which is likely to take long we decided as the CDF Committee to prioritize The 2023 CDF money and channelled it to the earth moving equipment.

Right now the procurement stage is done in terms of these processes at local council and they have considered at least 4 equipment that they are getting including the; compactor the Grader, scrapper and water bowser so when we get these 4 pieces we are going to open most of the feeder roads not the solwezi kipushi road because that will be taken care under the PPP.

So we are going to open most of the feeder roads and also construct some bridges and even hire out our equipment because once we start hiring our equipment like when the solwezi kipishi road construction begin the revenue that we are going to collect will be able to channel it to some of the projects that would have been halted because of the equipment.

Once the road and the border post is done Kasumbalesa business will go to half because we are more close to the main economic towns in DRC than going through to Kasumbalesa. Kasumbalesa will only be viable for trucks that are going to Tanzania, Chrundu and a bit to livingstone but once this solwezi kispushi road is done all the trucks that are going to Katimulilo even in Bostwana they would ruther use the road through Kasempa, Kaoma, Mongu, Katimamulilo and that is why the government also is in a hurry to make sure that the Solwezi Kesempa road is done.

He added that once the Kipushi boarder is opened and actualised and full-fledged, Zambia will have a lot of revenue because we have been sleeping on money because DRC can consume almost anything that is produced in Zambia so the state at which it is the boarder not being fully operational we are losing a lot of revenue. The opening up of the border post will contribute to the country’s revenue collection which will in turn the country’s social economy.

The commencement of the construction is expected after the signing ceremony and my hope and trust is that at least by the end of this year something should have begun.

The project is earmarked to cost about 485 million dollars with over 12 components that include the road, border facility, fuel storage facilities, tanks, farming blocks and the meat processing plants among others.

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Solwezi East United Party for National Development

Agribusiness

After successfully launching an innovation powerhouse of Agricultural solutions at last year’s edition of the Agritech Expo, Syngenta Zambia has once again partnered with Agritech in 2023 as a platinum sponsor under the theme “Transforming growers’ productivity sustainably through regenerative agriculture, innovative solutions while partnering for impact. With new and improved solutions, Syngenta is making bold moves to transform farmer yields at scale and increase their profitability in a way that creates sustainable value and as a result, boost Zambia’s food security.

“We have invested in new innovations that will help farmers improve their yields through access to quality new products. As an organization, we are conscious that climate change, soil health and biodiversity has depleted. Agriculture is in a transformative era; meaning that what worked before is not working any more. Regenerative agriculture blends sustainable innovation with tradition by focusing on literal restoration of the soil health, the planet’s ecosystems and in return enhancing farms’ productivity and profitability”. Said Mr Given Mudenda, Syngenta Zambia Managing Director and Southern Africa Head, in a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times.

Syngenta Zambia’s focus at the Agritech Expo 2023 is to exhibit and demonstrate the latest agricultural technologies, products, and services as innovative solutions to the growing needs of farmers, while addressing the emerging unprecedented sustainable food demands.

In addition to offering solutions, Syngenta Zambia is excited to introduce game changing and sustainable innovations such as:

• FORTENZA®️ Duo technology – a seed treatment that provides protection against the notorious Fall Armyworm, resulting in yield increase.

• MIRAVIS Duo®️ an outstanding fungicide that secures food quality by helping to control toxins in fruits and cereal crops.

• TYMIRIUM®️ Technology is in the pipeline and soon to be unveiled in the country – this technology is a novel nematicide under development for both seed- and soil-applied uses.

Furthermore, Syngenta Zambia has confirmed their commitment to engaging in impactful partnerships with other key players in the agricultural sector. “We recognize that we cannot achieve these ambitions alone, and that farmers require holistic solutions, we continue to invest in innovative partnerships that address the multiple barriers faced by farmers.” Said Mr Mudenda. Syngenta Zambia has built strong collaborations with the government, the Ministry of Agriculture, regulators, Croplife, Zambia Seed Association, farmers including initiatives such as Agritech among others – in joining efforts to transform local agriculture and steer it towards progressive and sustainable methods.

Consumers are encouraged to visit the Syngenta Zambia office to explore the wide portfolio of products and services that Syngenta Zambia has to offer.

Further details of Syngenta’s participation at the Agritech Expo can be found on their social media pages through the hashtag #TheAgritechExperienceWithSyngenta.

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After successfully launching an innovation powerhouse of

Lifestyle

Zambia’s most loved beer, Mosi Premium Lager, introduces a brand-new innovation – Mosi Light – to keep the vibes going even longer. This new, easy drinking and ultra-refreshing beer is brewed with the finest quality ingredients, no added sugar and is less bitter. A “feel good” beer that quenches but keeps you wanting more. With all the freshness of an easy drinking and great tasting beer – what more can you want?

The fun and energetic brand was launched in style surrounded by DJs, influencers and media personalities who all gathered to have their first taste of the laka vibes that Mosi Light has to offer. The successful launch event held by Zambian Breweries sure kept the good times going. “Zambian Breweries Country Head of Marketing, Ms Thelma Kaonga said “We are delighted to introduce yet another quality beer to the market, an interesting twist to the Mosi Premium Lager beer, the Mosi Light is served in a 330ml returnable bottle and caters to our consumers who prefer an easy-drinking beer for the easy-going times”. Zambian Breweries has unwaveringly served fans of Mosi Premium Lager with trendy and innovative additions to the national and much-loved beer.”

According to a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times, the introduction of Mosi Light comes at a timely moment when the country is in high anticipation of the biggest music festival in Zambia; the Mosi Day of Thunder (DOT). The music festival brings together fans of Mosi in an exciting day of music in Livingstone; the tourist capital of Zambia. The city of Livingstone is home to the thunderous Mosi-O-Tunya Falls, where the Mosi DOT festival is held in the largest gathering of Mosi fans featuring performances by local talent. With the offering of Mosi Light, festival attendants now have the option of a lighter beer that will keep their fun and experience going for much longer. 

Further details of Mosi Light can be found on Mosi Premium Lager social media pages via hashtag #MosiLight and #KeepVibesLaka.

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Zambia’s most loved beer, Mosi Premium Lager,

Markets

The Zambian Government and their neighboring Angolan counterparts have re-affirmed to develop three land borders to enhance trade and business relations. The three modern borders facilities are to be located at Jimbe, Sikongo and Shangombo.

For the Shangombo border, the Zambian government will have to first develop a 10 kilometers water way on the Kwando River as another way of linking Zambia to Angola. This is after the witnessing of the signing of the six memoranda of understandings – MOUs in different areas by Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema with his counterpart the President of Angola Joao Manuel Lourenco.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Infrastructure Development Minister Charles Milupi said Government will on top of developing the Jimbe Boarder in North-Western Province and the Malundo Sikongo Boarder on the western part, will further facilitate the construction of the Canal in Shangombo District.

He explained that there was no need of signing the other MoU as the recent passed regime had already signed and the only need was to develop canals and to have safe boarder securities from both sides.

Zambia and Angola in March, 2014 under the Micheal Chilufya Sata regime, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to construct a canal in Shang’ombo district to link the two countries.

The district borders Senanga district in the east, Kalabo district in the north, Sesheke in the south, and in the west, it is on the borderline of the Angolan district, Rivungu. Shangombo also lies between two water bodies; Zambezi river and Kwando or Cuando river (as it is spelt in Portuguese).

Milupi said once the canal is developed, it will enhance trade between the two countries while jobs will also be created between the two countries. He said the construction of a canal would have multiplier effects as more economic activities would be simulated in the two countries.

He said Shangombo residents would also have an opportunity to supply their products to the Angolan markets. “So again there we can trade but Zambia need to develop the road from nangweshi all the way to phiongokwere make it the international standard road.”

He said if the country can have the three connections, Jimbe in North Western Province, Kalabo/Sikongo  in Western province and Further Western Province through ShAangombo canal then the country will have been effective linked in to Angola.

When asked if there are timelines for these important projects to be implemented, Milupe said, “as soon as possible but when you are dealing with the private investors you are depending on the interest that will be shown and the discussions that will take place but remember negotiations may take time because this is uncharted territory.”

“At the moment Government is looking at PPP as there is a lot of interest to do both roads, so Public Private Partnership means people will have to come to us and tell us how much it is going to cost I can’t tell you what is the cost now because then the BIDs will be around the figure that I give you and that is not cost effective as we want to make it competitive.” He added.

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The Zambian Government and their neighboring Angolan

Agribusiness

The Centre for Trade Policy and Development – CTPD – has challenged Government to further support the Zambia National service ZNS towards enhancing their capacity so that they can be playing a leading role with regards to ensuring that food security and cost related to the purchase of mealie meal.

CTPD Executive Director Isaac Mwaipopo said Government must realize that while Commercial Millers are critical to the growth of the agriculture sector, they are not a solution to having cheaper mealie meal, as they are in it for profit and business, not charity, so selling them cheaper maize from FRA with hope that they would pass on the benefit to end consumers only makes them richer when maize from FRA should largely be sold to state run milling plants and smaller players directly can directly pass on the benefit to consumers.

Mwaipopo told the Zambian Business Times in an interview that, “Our thinking is that now that we have the Zambia National service actively coming on board and supporting the milling of the grain in supplying of mealie meal we think that Government should invest a bit more resources towards enhancing their capacity so that they can be playing a leading role with regards to ensuring that food security and cost related to the purchase of the bag of mealie meal.”

He said the model that the Food Reserve Agency has been deploying where whenever there is a shortage of mealie meal then automatically the price of the commodity goes up, they normally offload cheap grain from the reserves with hope that commercial millers will pass on benefits to the consumer which has never been the case as in most cases they change stories and start talking about the cost of production, transport and power among others and as a results government is the one that loses out in a double way because it subsidizes the production of maize which is grown by small scale farmers hence government heavily finances the production of this maize at the same time it offloads cheaper maize to commercial millers so we think that the commercial millers are basically ripping off the Government.

Mwaipopo explained that For the commercial millers it would be good if they could be supplying part of their produces on the domestic market but if they can also have a bit more towards the export market it might help to ensure that issues related to food security or concerns around the pricing of mealie meal are dealt with while at the same time striking the balance in terms of export.

He added that Now that ZNS is becoming more active our thinking is that FRA reserves may be more beneficial to end consumers if it passed on to entities like the ZNS compared to commercial millers, ZNS would not be in it so much for super normal profits.

The Government through the Zambia National Service and Zambia Correctional Service should put additional land under cultivation through irrigation, as the population is growing, evidenced from the recently conducted census of population and housing, the country cannot continue depending on small scale farmers for our food security needs. Government should also revisit the Solar Hammer Mill Project, evaluate the performance and address any bottle necks they may have faced, this initiative still stands a chance to deliver results if well implemented.

He noted that most of the ZNS milling plants are unable to produce at full capacity a situation he said could be an issue of underinvestment because setting up milling plants is something that needs some level of investments and if you look at the last 5 to 10 years our investment have not been focused more on infrastructure of that kind.

“Off course there is some support that we have received from China that has helped us to build some milling plants in some parts of the country but beside that we have also seen IDC through active participation in other milling plants but if we can consider rolling out more plants and task them with bigger responsibility of meeting the domestic consumption needs it might be better in terms of managing the dynamics that normally come with prices related to mealie in the sense that Government will have some level of control on the production and marketing side.”

“When I talk about marketing I don’t mean the entire value chain because marketing is always divided into two aspects food security component and the surplus component which goes for the export market so for the country to strike the proper balance of maintaining our exports which can be highly driven by the commercial millers there is need for investment that can help to drive the agenda when it comes to ensuring domestic consumption needs are taken care of In a manner that is less vulnerable compared to what we have now.”

But we might also need to go beyond the ZNS in terms of just thinking on the processing end. It would be good if some support can also be provided to them to activate their increased participation in the production of maize and because our food security has largely been left in the hands of the small scale farmers so if we can have ZNS, ZCS equally putting some land under cultivation especially irrigation it can be a game changer with regards to dealing with the food security in the country.

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The Centre for Trade Policy and Development

Agribusiness

Some Zambian Farmers have cried foul on the drastic fall of the prices of soybeans on the market.

Some private buyers of the crop in some parts of the country are offering between K5 per kilogram while in other areas buyers are offering as low as k3 per kilogram against last season’s k11 per kg.

A check by the Zambian Business Times in some parts of central Province, established that some private buyers were offering k5 per kg translating into K250 for a 50kg bag of soya grain and k5, 000 per ton.

The Small Scale Farmers Development Agency –SAFADA- has however urged government through the ministry of agriculture to give a cost reflective price which will give farmers a reasonable profit.

SAFADA executive director Boyd moobwe said the Agency has not yet seen Government prices for 2023 marketing season, “but we are anticipating that the prices will rise from last year’s.”

Moobwe said Farmers are only selling their crops at the current k5 others as low as k3 due to high levels of poverty as farmers entirely depend on their crops even when the market is not yet seriously.

“Government should consider farmers and what we expect is that they should give a cost reflective price which will give farmers a reasonable profit.”  

“We are not comfortable because farmers are given low pieces even when they are talking about export, it’s the traders who are enjoying more so we are not comfortable with the prices on the market and it’s an appeal to government to put up proper measures that can protect and help farmers.” He remarked.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture declined to comment after expressing ignorant on the matter.

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Some Zambian Farmers have cried foul on

Mining

Zambia’s Annual cobalt production has hit a 251 tons in 2022, according to official data released by the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development.

The number represents a 2% jump compared to 247 tonnes produced in 2021. Cobalt production had dwindled after the international prices collapsed.

According to mineral production figures obtained from the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development, obtained by the Zambian Business Times –ZBT – the country’s cobalt production stood at a paltry 251 metric tonnes in 2022, 247 in 2021, 315 in 2020, and 878 in 2019.

 Global supplies of refined cobalt used in the rechargeable batteries that power electric vehicles are now expected to surge to around 210,000 tonnes this year, up 24% from 2022, while demand is forecast to rise 8% to 205,000 tonnes according to reports.

Currently, cobalt prices on the world market are trading at about US$34, 180 per ton and Zambia may only benefit if the production of the shiny metal used in the manufacture of EV batteries is increased.

Cobalt is a hard, lustrous, grey metal with a high melting point (1493°C). It is used mainly in the production of chemicals (58 percent), super alloys for gas turbine blades and jet aircraft engines, special steel, carbides, diamond tools, and magnets and now Electric vehicles (EVs) have remained the real driving force of the cobalt market and is expected to continue to see substantial gains.

By far, the biggest producer of cobalt is DR Congo (more than 50%) followed by Russia (4%), Australia, the Philippines, and Cuba.

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Zambia’s Annual cobalt production has hit a