State Participation

The state participation in the mining sector is governed by the provisions of the Mines and Minerals Development Act of 2015. Section 3 of the Act stipulates that all rights of ownership in, searching for mining and disposing of, minerals wheresoever located in the Republic of Zambia vest in the President on behalf of the Republic.

The Mines and Minerals Development Act 2015 offers possibility to the Government to acquire mining rights for Government investment over identified areas as prescribed by the Section 17 of the Act. The identified area referred to shall be reserved for Government investment and shall not be subject to an application for the acquisition of a mining right by any person. The identified areas will not be subject to an application for a mining right by any person and furthermore the mining rights subject to identified areas shall be granted to a government investment company in accordance with the provisions of the Mines Act. 4.6.2 ZCCM-IH The ownership of mines has undergone a sequence of radical changes. Initially a private industry under the colonial administration, the mining industry was nationalised in the early 1970s, with the creation of the state-owned Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM).

A combination of low prices and lack of capital to invest resulted in production of copper falling, and ZCCM’s operations became increasingly unprofitable, and the industry was reprivatized in the late 1990s. Although the mines are now operated by private companies, the Government retains minority interests in most of the large copper projects through its holding company Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investments Holdings Plc (ZCCM-IH). GRZ is the majority shareholder of ZCCM-IH and therefore the Company has strong links with the government. ZCCM-IH is quoted on the Lusaka, London, and Euronext Stock Exchanges.

ZCCM-IH’s annual audited financial reports are publicly available and include information on reserves, the names of operating companies, royalties, and dividends. ZCCM-IH also publishes information on its board of directors and decision-making rules.

The Company has close links with two Government ministries namely, the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development and the Ministry of Finance. Both ministries have representation on the Board of ZCCM-IH. The Company also maintains a close relationship with Government through representatives of some autonomous Entities on the Board of ZCCM-IH namely the Zambia Revenue Authority and the Bank of Zambia (Central Bank).