Zambia Aims for Majority Stake in Glencore's Mopani Copper Mine

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The state-owned mining investment arm ZCCM-IH announced that it seeks controlling stake in Glencore’s Mopani Copper Mines subsidiary in Zambia. The announcement to this effect was made by Mines Minister Richard Musukwa on Tuesday. It must be noted that ZCCM-IH currently has 10% ownership.

In a statement, Musukwa said that ZCCM-IH seeks a larger stake, in order to have a controlling stake in Mopani. A 10% stake is not sufficient to determine Mopani’s future and hence is seeking a 51% or more shareholding. For this, Glencore should sell more than 41% of its holding to the state-owned mining investment firm.

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Meantime, a spokesperson of Glencore declined to comment on the statement. The company noted that it could comment on the proposed acquisition of additional shares by ZCCM-IH from it, only in its discussion with all shareholders. The discussions are currently in progress and updates will be provided at a later stage, it confirmed.

Earlier in April this year, the country’s government had threatened to revoke Mopani’s mining license, alleging that the company failed to provide adequate notice before imposing force majeure on account of Covid-19 crisis and related problems. Furthermore, it had temporarily blocked Mopani’s chief executive officer Nathan Bullock from leaving the country.