Zambia is planning to acquire a majority stake in Glencore Plc’s Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) through its ZCCM Investments Holdings (ZCCM-IH) to keep the operations running and protect jobs, Zambian mines minister Richard Musukwa said, as per media reports.
MCM is owned 73.1pc by Glencore, 16.9pc by First Quantum Minerals, and 10pc by ZCCM-IH.
ZCCM-IH is seeking 51pc or more stake to take control of the mine as the 10pc stake is not sufficient to determine Mopani’s future.
This would require Glencore to sell over 41pc of the company to ZCCM-IH.
MCM said that the discussions regarding the potential acquisition of additional shares by ZCCM-IH from Glencore are progressing and further updates will be issued as appropriate.
The Zambian government had threatened to revoke Glencore’s mining license in April and stopped MCM CEO from leaving the country as the company did not give enough notice before suspending its mining operations after copper prices fell due to COVID-19 outbreak.
Glencore is said to have revealed that it is not sustainable for it to continue with operations. Hence, a new majority stake will guarantee the welfare of the many Zambians employed at the mine.
MCM produced 119,000mt of copper in 2018.Zambia is the second-largest copper producer in Africa.