ZAMBIA’S COPPER PRODUCTION TO REMAIN STAGNATE AT 800,000 TONS IF MINING SECTOR CHALLENGES ARE NOT ADDRESSED

 Academician And Mining Expert Professor Peter Chileshe has predicted that Zambia will still produce around 800,000 tons of copper in the next ten years if the current conditions in the sector persist.

Professor Chileshe, who is also a dean in the school of mines at the Copperbelt University-CBU-, has however praised government for an ambitious target of 3 million tons annually but is of the view that 1.5 million tons annually will be a huge achievement for Zambia given all the challenges in the mining sector.

Professor Chileshe believes that Zambia has the potential to hit 4 million tons annually with the right policies, ambitious investors on both Greenfield and brownfield projects, and enhanced collaboration among sector players and government.

He contends that multinationals such as Anglo America and Glencore previously failed to grow Zambia’s copper production, leaving others such as First Quantum Minerals-FQM-, to produce the majority of Zambia’s copper over the past decade, hence the need for more ambitious investors.

Professor Chileshe adds that the government must begin to engage individual existing mines, and bring on board Greenfield mines, to ensure a sector wide affiliation to the strategic target of 3 million tons if Zambia is to achieve this within a decade.

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