The government is eyeing a positive copper production of up to 1.3 Million metric tonnes for the 2022 fiscal year as the country begins taking steps towards achieving its target of 3 Million metric tons of copper annually within the next 10 years.
Mines Minister Paul Kabuswe, who is currently touring Central Province to asses minerals available and the small scale mining sector in the province, says he is confident that copper production will go up next year despite the reduction in figures as of quarter 3 this year in comparison to last year.
Mr. Kabuswe has told Phoenix News in an interview that government is currently working on modalities to enhance the small scale mining sector to allow for them to also contribute significantly to Zambia’s annual copper production figures.
He adds that government predicts a positive output of copper next year despite the on-going challenges at both Mopani and Konkola Copper Mines which are both integral to ramping up the country’s annual copper production figures.
Zambia’s copper production as at October 2021 dropped by 2 percent translating into a drop by a total of 28, 641 Metric tons with 659,939 metric tons of copper produced this year compared to 688,580 metric tons in 2020 during the same period.
Targets are worthless when you have no plan in place or capacity to achieve. Under upnd, all we have seen is talking and not actions
You are talking about 10 years!? Whatdafaki?
People what results in next 10 days…
So far it is a Govt of talk shows. Vasco dagama will tell you that his ministers must go out and tell the nation what they have achieved this far. It is like telling your minister to go and tell the nation that their Govt is extracting blood out of stones. Even the most spoken ministers are still in opposition mode.
Just wait a minute! Which Mine or Mines does the government own to set targets? I thought Mines were all foreign owned ?
Hey Kaizar, at least UPND aren’t criminally mismanaging the economy and creating a kleptocracy. The targets are ambitious – arguably overly so. But they are promoting business rather than emptying the cupboard (or crashing vehicles whilst drunk). Perhaps we’ll all visit you in prison.
Fred, that we don’t have evidence of yet..but I can assure you that the upnd are very corrupt. You think someone pays millions for a jacket worn by a president for nothing? I worked for OP and once you worl for them , your remain OP for life, so I have access to intelligence and can tell you that thieving is going on. We will only know the extent of it when upnd are kicked out next election.
So what if production goes up to even 3 million tonnes per year, what’s the benefit for Zambia?
You have essentially allowed these big multinational corporations to mine our copper tax free and externalise all the profits while you tax the poor zambians to death.
Shame on you.