Zambia’s copper output could rise to around one million tonnes (mt) a year by 2026 as investment in expanding production at mines continues to add to capacity, the nation’s finance minister, Situmbeko Musokotwane, said on Friday.
Copper production is a key component of Zambia’s economy, but it has been gradually declining in the nation, Africa’s second-largest producer of the metal. The government wants to raise output to about 3mt a year by the end of 2030.
Last month, United Arab Emirates-based International Resources Holding signed a joint venture with Jubilee Metals Group to extract copper from a waste rock dump in Zambia, with the plan of establishing four modular processing plants with a combined annual capacity of 2.4mt.
Jubilee Metals Group plc (LON:JLP) is a diversified metal recovery business with a world-class portfolio of projects in South Africa and Zambia. The Company’s expanding multi-project portfolio across South Africa and Zambia provides exposure to a broad commodity basket including Platinum Group Metals, chrome, lead, zinc, vanadium, copper and cobalt.