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Mining

With the objective of developing and formalizing the Gold sub sector in the country, the Zambia Gold Company has disclosed that it intends to open many gold mines in the country.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, ZGC Public Relations Manager Mathews Liyani disclosed that the company is currently doing explorations in Rufunsa District and will soon be doing explorations in Mumbwa District of Central Province.

Liyani explained that the company wants to open more gold mines as a way of increasing gold productions in the country.

He said the company is so far working with 11 Cooperatives in Eastern Province that are involved in gold mining and has helped them with equipment such gold detectors and shaking cables, a situation he said is one way to help them increase production.

Liyani said helping artisanal mining operations and transforming them into commercially viable activities would ensure that the production of gold increases and more people would be empowered economically.

The Zambian government has since the year 2020 tasked ZGCL with the mandate to develop tenements into fully operational gold and other precious mineral mines.

Shareholders of the ZGC are ZCCM-IH with 51% and the Zambian government through the Ministry of Finance has 49%, ZGCL has the mandate to acquire exploration licenses and carry out exploration with a focus on Gold either directly or in partnership with other entities.

ZGCL-the company in charge of Kasenseli gold mine sells all the gold produced at Kasenseli Gold Mine to the Bank of Zambia. Further, the company buys gold from artisanal and small-scale miners (ASMs) as a way of supporting and encouraging them to formalise their operations. The gold purchased from ASMs is sold through off-take agreements with buyers or processed into jewellery.

 

 

 

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With the objective of developing and formalizing

Lifestyle

The Zambia Air Force-ZAF has denied allegations that it influenced or pressured Chingola Municipal Council to demolish over 300 houses that were built on Kasompe Airstrip land in Chingola.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, ZAF Director Public Relations Lieutenant Colonel Helen Chota said unlike public rumors, the claims are incorrect and no other ZAF Airstrips have been encroached.

Officers from the Chingola Municipal Council and Zambia Police Service started the operation around 02:00hrs on August 20 2022 and both houses under construction as well as those that were complete were demolished.

Chingola Municipal Council said the local council did not allocate the land in question and structures were erected without planning permission from the local authority and the Municipality through the department of Development Planning issued enforcement notices on 15 February 2022 for the developers to suspend all works and demolish the structures within a period of 28 days.

However, some residents claimed that some Council officials offered them the pieces of land.

 

 

 

 

 

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The Zambia Air Force-ZAF has denied allegations

Markets

Financing in Zambia remains a challenge for companies and listing on LuSE was seen as an answer to diversify and provide alternatives to bank and micro finance debt sources of finance but LuSE has not attracted any new listings lately.

The Lusaka Securities Exchange-LuSE has disclosed that it has not received any applications for listing on the securities exchange so far this year.

LuSE Business Development Officer Lina Lungu said the company does as much as it can to encourage companies to list on the securities exchange but that is how far it can go, as companies cannot be forced to list on LuSE.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Lungu noted that the securities exchange only has 22 companies listed as at now adding that companies are in a better position to explain why they are not listing on LuSE.

“You have to ask the companies to say, what is the impediment, why aren’t you coming to list on the market because the LuSE does as much as it can to encourage but you can’t force the companies to list, it’s a decision the company makes”, she said.

Lungu explained that companies have their own reasons as to why they are not listing on LuSE and these may be economic conditions or they may be finding it difficult to meet the listing requirements.

The Securities and Exchange Commission-SEC had in the past told ZBT that one of the reasons why companies are not listing on LuSE is because the country has SMEs that are small in size and cannot meet the listing requirements but still need funding.

SEC had mentioned that the other major reason is the lack of awareness among Zambians about the possibilities of investing through capital markets and the macro economics which had not been very stable.

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Financing in Zambia remains a challenge for

Mining

The Mine Workers Union of Zambia-MUZ has disclosed that it has resolved to take a lead in participating in mining activities in order to create job opportunities for its members and local Zambians.

Union President Joseph Chewe said the union has been representing and protecting workers’ interest and the country at large in terms of beneficiation for some time now which has not benefited a lot of its members hence the need to acquire a mine that will support members.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Chewe said the union has resolved to acquire a mine in Northwestern Province and is only waiting for the Cadastre to open so that it can push for its exploration license.

Chewe said so far, the union has received favourable response from both government officials and the royal highnesses on the plans to acquire a mine in the province.

He said the Chiefs in Northwestern province have shown delight in the plans by indigenous Zambians to be present in mining activities and create jobs which will to some extent compete with some foreign investors.

The Union representative said the ultimate goal of the union is to create jobs as a local investor and hopefully stakeholders who are Zambians, government and any other investor group will support the move.

Chewe said the investment and the number of jobs that are to be created will only be disclosed once the union acquires an exploration license as he feared that some people might want to sabotage the plans.

He mentioned that what will be mined will depend on the minerals that will be found adding that the country is blessed with a lot of minerals and the union will go with the flow of the minerals available.

“We don’t want to disclose more information on our plans because we know there are some people that want to sabotage us”, he stressed.

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The Mine Workers Union of Zambia-MUZ has

Tech

Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Chipoka Mulenga has disclosed that feasibility studies on the land which has been secured for the manufacturing of electric car batteries are currently underway and commencement of construction of the factory will begin once the studies are concluded.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Mulenga explained that the land is on the Copperbelt Province but declined to state the exact location.

Mulenga said he could not give the timeframe for commencement of the construction of the manufacturing factory stating that it will only commence once all things have been put in place.

“Feasibility studies are happening so once they are done we will guide you, we don’t want to misinform the public whereby today we say this and then tomorrow we come back and change. We want to tell you things that are timely and achievable. Like the President said the land has been found and the location will be communicated to the public once feasibility studies are done”, he said.

He noted that he needs to inquire from the President the size of the land and the investment that will be injected into this project.

The Minister also mentioned that a number of companies have shown interest in developing the manufacturing factory for the electric car batteries.

And Copperbelt Province minister Elisha Matambo has revealed that government is considering three districts for setting up the manufacturing of electric car batteries.

Matambo said the three districts that are being considered are Ndola, Chingola and Chililabombwe.

The Minister however suggested that Ndola would be a better place for putting up such a factory as a way of revamping the area in terms of industry and create more jobs.

He explained that Ndola was known as a place where the industries were found but the previous government killed almost all the small scale industries in the area hence the need to have the factory there.

 

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Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Chipoka

Agribusiness

Wonderful Group of Companies has disclosed that it has completed phase one of the construction of the United Capital Fertilizer Manufacturing Plant and is ready to start test operations.

Company Board Member Roy Mwamba said the first phase of production will start next week noting that the company has two production lines and the plant has a capacity of over 300, 000 metric tonnes.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Mwamba noted that the fertilizer plant is one of the few in the world to be completed in six months especially considering the fact that the construction of the plant took place during the rainy season.

He said phase one of the project has been completed and phase two is yet to be completed adding that one of the production lines will be using coal which will be sourced locally as one of the raw materials for the production of fertilizer.

Mwamba had earlier told ZBT that the US$300 million local fertilizer plant will cut the importation of fertilizer for Zambia by about 60% and reduce the cost of fertilizer by about 40% due to use of local raw materials and economies of scale.

He said once the plant is operational, the company would be able to supply 80% of the total percentage of urea demand and 60% of the total percentage of D compound required for the country adding that all the raw materials, which include coal and phosphate, would be acquired locally in Southern Province and the plant will create about 1,100 direct jobs.

The Board Member further stated that 60% of the investment funds are being sourced from financial institutions outside Zambia with 40% being sourced locally, adding that US$ 20 million from the US$ 300 million is working capital for the first two years as per draft cash flows.

Mwamba said the fertilizer manufacturing company would have a production capacity of 135, 000 metric tonnes per annum for fertilizer and 80,000 metric tonnes per annum for ammonia bicarbonate.

He said the company would have a robust and state of the art integrated cross-circuit production process such that there will be no emission of either smoke or gasses and the smoke will be converted into a gas by-product, for which the company already has a captive market.

Mwamba added that the gas produced in the production process and other by-products that come out of the production of ammonia bicarbonate can be used in the production of fire extinguishers and baking powder.

He stated that apart from reducing the prices of fertilizer, the manufacturing plant would also enhance agriculture activities, which is what the country currently needs noting that the company would be producing ammonia that would be supplied to Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ), and these raw materials are currently imported.

Mwamba further said that currently, every fertilizer manufacturing company in Zambia imports raw materials, mostly from South Africa. The new plant would be producing ammonia as a by-product, therefore there will be no need to continue importing from South Africa, thus boosting the production for local companies such as NCZ.

 

 

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Wonderful Group of Companies has disclosed that

Agribusiness

The Crushers and Edible Oil Refiners Association (CEDORA) says it has acquired about 250, 000 metric tonnes of soya beans that it will process into cooking oil locally.

Association Director Aubrey Chibumba said atleast 45, 000 metric tonnes of refined cooking oil would be processed from the 250, 000 metric tonnes soya beans.

He noted that the country’s demand for cooking oil is about 200, 000 metric tonnes per year and the country only produces around 80, 000 metric tonnes of cooking oil and the rest is imported as refined cooking oil.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Chibumba added that the country imports around 120, 000 metric tonnes of refined cooking oil every year in order to meet the demand.

Chibumba mentioned that the country produced about 410, 000 metric tonnes of soya beans in the last season and of that quantity, about 40, 000 metric tonnes was earmarked for export but only 20, 000 metric tonnes was exported.

He explained that there was a balance of 20, 000 metric tonnes left from what was earmarked for exports and it was all finished therefore the country consumed around 380,000 metric tonnes of soya beans last year.

Chibumba said the expectation is that this year’s consumption should increase adding that this year the country may consume between 400, 000 and 430, 000 metric tonnes of soya beans.

Some Oilseed stakeholders had resolved to export 100, 000 metric tonnes of raw soya beans, a decision CEDORA is against because the country has installed capacity to process all the soya produced this year.

Chibumba had earlier told the ZBT that the association members currently have installed capacity of a million tonnes of soya, so the country can process the whole 475, 000 metric tonnes of  soya beans that has been produced this year, but some people in the value chain need to trade soya beans for their own reasons or interests.

He explained that it is understandable that everyone in the value chain has to benefit but the association members have invested over $500 million to put up crushing and manufacturing facilities in Zambia but people who have not made any investment are trying to dictate what happens in the sector, which should not be allowed.

“In every other sector, the emphasis is on value addition so why should this be different, we have got the capacity to process all the produce but we don’t want to look as if we are trying to manipulate the prices, so we understand that a reasonable quantity of beans could be exported”, he said.

 

 

 

 

 

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The Crushers and Edible Oil Refiners Association

Mining

Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane has yet again given mining companies more tax exemptions by suspending import taxes on mining equipment and machinery. This is additional to the making of mineral royalty tax deductible which resulted in the country losing about $200 million in lost revenue.

Mineral Royalty Tax (MRT) was introduced to bring certain loss making mining companies on the tax base as most mining corporations were declaring losses and the tax authorities have no capacity to find loopholes in their tax declarations, which made it difficult to tax the mines.

However, the UPND government in the 2022 budget gave mining companies a tax holiday by reintroducing deductibility of the mineral royalty tax, a move stakeholders described as retrogressive and government has continued to give more concessions to mines which only benefit the mines.

According to Statutory Instrument (SI) No. 50 of 2022 obtained by the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, a rebate, refund or remission of the whole or any  part of the duty paid or payable shall be granted to a holder of a mining right.

This is in respect of a mining plant, mining machinery, mining equipment and other goods used in mining operations, other than spare parts thereof, imported or taken out of bond by that holder of a mining right.

The document further states that a holder of a mining right who intends to claim for a rebate, refund or remission of duty shall provide the Commissioner General with details of the mining right, the activities carried out in relation to the mining right.

Other details to be provided include the nature and quantity, substantive tariff description and classification in the customs tariff and customs value of the goods in respect of which the rebate, refund or remission is sought.

In addition, a holder of a mining right shall complete a declaration in Form CE 25 set out in the Eighth Schedule and the goods in respect of which a refund, rebate or remission is granted under this regulation, shall not be sold or otherwise disposed of without the prior consent of the Commissioner-General and payment of the duty thereon at the rate leviable on the goods at the date of the sale or disposal.

The Commissioner-General may for the purpose of determining the amount of duty payable on the goods sold or disposed of take into consideration the depreciation of the goods from the date of importation or removal from bond, and shall remit the duty if the sale or disposal is effected more than five years after the date on which the rebate, refund or remission was granted.

For the purposes of this regulation, “holder of a mining right” means a person granted a mining right in accordance with the Mines and  Minerals Development Act, 2015; and “other goods used in mining operations” shall include a transmission or conveyor belt of subheading 5910.00.10, dumpers designed for off- highway use of subheading 8704.10.00, conveyors of subheading 8428.31.00 to 8428.90.00 and mine locomotives of subheadings 8601.10.10 and 8601.20.10.

 

 

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Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane has yet again

Lifestyle

Chibombo District Commissioner-DC Lloyed Kayeke has admitted to using a Yes/No criteria as a way of selecting enumerators for the 2022 Census of Population and Housing.

The District Commissioner has been accused of including his preferred individuals on the final list of enumerators that were picked for the 2022 census due to the method used to select enumerators. The DC wrote Yes, No on pieces of papers, put the papers in a box, and asked the applicants to each pick one piece of paper and all those that picked No were left out. This criterion has been condemned as some of the applicants that were shortlisted on the first list were left out on the final list.

Kayeke said there was overwhelming response from individuals who wanted the job and the District Commissioner felt that was the only way for him and his team to pick from the various applicants that were more than the number needed.

When asked why the DC did not just pick the applicants with the highest marks as the candidates wrote aptitude tests, Kayeke stated that him and his team thought that was the best option in that circumstance.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Kayeke said no complaints from individuals that picked No could be addressed now and the issue cannot be rectified because everyone that picked yes was deployed into their respective wards.

Kayeke further said the only correction that was made was deploying people to places where they had asked to be deployed in an event that the selected individuals were deployed to places they did not apply to work from.

He added that the complaints would have been addressed if they had been taken to his office earlier.

“I did not put in any of my own people, you know when you are dealing with people who have passed but they are more than what a ward required, to be fair that was the exercise I advised-Yes/No”, he said.

 

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Chibombo District Commissioner-DC Lloyed Kayeke has admitted

Companies

Katete District Commissioner Malan Zimba has disclosed that works on the construction of the Katete Fruit Processing plant are progressing well and all works will be completed in the next one month.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Zimba said the plant would be processing fruits such as mangoes, oranges, guavas, watermelons and tomatoes that will be used to produce tomato sauce among other fruits.

Zimba explained that this would create direct employment for the farmers, as it will be an all year round project and the small-scale farmers will be able to buy irrigation materials which will enable them grow their crops all year round once they begin supplying their produce to the company throughout the year.

He mentioned that the company would employ over 250 people for a start adding that the number will keep on increasing as the demand grows which means the livelihoods of many people will change, as the benefits will cut across many sectors.

The District Commissioner mentioned that the work would have been completed earlier but the team working on the construction of the plant had gone to Mwinilunga, North Western province to complete the works on the Kalene Hills Fruit Processing Company, which was, was commissioned on 27 July 2022.

“The works are almost done, we are at 99%, very soon they will be handing it over. The machinery was already fit, just connecting machines to the grid is what is remaining, not the actual construction works, the actual construction works are done, it’s just the fitting of electricals”, he said.

 

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Katete District Commissioner Malan Zimba has disclosed