Zambia plans to select buyers for the Mopani copper mine by the end of the month

Foreign media reported on July 14th: According to the Minister of Mines of Zambia on Friday, the government has included companies that have submitted a binding bid to acquire Mopani Copper Mines in the candidate list and hopes to select a new investor by July 31st.

The source told Reuters last month that China Zijin Mining and an investment company owned by China North Industries Group, Sibanye Stillwater in South Africa and Glencore's former executives had been shortlisted in the bid for Mopani.

Mining Minister Paul Kabuswe declined to disclose at a press conference which companies have entered the candidate list.

Glencore, a Swiss based commodity giant, sold 73% of the shares of Mopani to ZCCM-IH, a Zambian state-owned enterprise, at a price of US $1.5 billion in 2021. This transaction was financed by debt, but Glencore retained the right to take off Mopani copper production until the debt was paid off.

Kabuswe stated that the government is still in final negotiations with Vedanta Resources in an attempt to end the dispute over Konkola Copper Mine (KCM), and once an unresolved matter is reached, it may be resolved this month.

Kabuswe said that choosing a new investor to acquire Mopani and resolving the KCM dispute that has been delaying since 2019 may help Zambia achieve its ambition to double copper production in the next decade.

He said, "KCM's production has not reached the expected level because it lacks capital injection

Within July, we should be able to break through a point (outstanding) and we will be able to tell you that this is a transaction

Since the breakdown of the relationship between Zambia and Vedanta, KCM has been working hard to attract investment, ultimately leading to the Zambian government taking over these assets and carrying out mandatory liquidation in May 2019. KCM owns one of the world's richest copper mines - the Konkola deep mining project.