Nchanga copper mine in Chingola, Zambia(ImgSrc:Zambia-The Guardian)

Zambia is Africa's second largest copper producer after  Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2019, Zambia was the seventh largest copper producer in the world by producing 790000MT of the red mine that same year.

In Zambia, copper was discovered in the late 19th century then in the 1950s the Zambian copper belt dominated global production of the metal.

Zambia’s copper mines are concentrated in the copper belt province which have got different main cities like Kitwe, Ndola, Mufulira, Luanshya, Chingola and Chililabombwe.

Mining is a major economic sector in the country contributing highly to Zambian government revenues through mainly mining royalties and VAT.

In first months of 2020 meaning January to April, mining companies in Zambia  like First quantum Minerals (FM.TO); Glencore(GLEN.L), Barrick Gold Corp(ABX.TO) and Vedanta resources VDAN.NS  those copper producers had suffered a 20% drop in revenue due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Minister of Mines and Minerals in Zambia Mr Richard Musukwa said that there was still the increase in production to increased output by large mining firms even during that particular period of Covid-19 pandemic.

Zambia has managed to produce

• 799,329 tonnes of copper recorded in 2017.
• Around 861,946 metric tons of copper in 2018
• 776,430 tons which had been produced in 2019
• 882,061 tons of copper in 2020 which is almost up 13.6%  of 2019

In 2021, the copper mining production in Zambia is likely to increase more than 15% from 882,061 tons of copper produced in 2020.

In the first quarter of this year 2021 the mining GDP decreased to

• 3518 Zambian Kwacha million from
• 3904 ZMk million in the fourth quarter of 2020.

However the mining sector during this pandemic period has declined initially due to the falling global demand for copper which led to the price fall. Since mid-March, the copper price crashed to below $2.00 a pound.

In May 2021 Copper prices reached an all-time high of $10,512 per metric ton. It also marked a 130% growth since March 22, 2020. It was because of the high demand from China as one of top copper consumers. The demand for copper is expected to rise further amid rising concerns about low Copper inventories.

Mines and Minerals Minister Richard Musukwa said that Zambia aims to produce more than 90000 tons of copper in this year 2021 and long-term target is to exceed 1million tones in annual production.

The president of Zambia Edgar Lungu revealed a plan for 2020-2023 economic recovery.

He said that even if  the price of copper has been hit hard by the Covid-19 and the country's economy hugely depends on it , Zambia set out targets for the economic recovery.

Zambia’s president addressed that his country will develop a more simplified tax administration system to facilitate investors by;

• Implementing policy and regulation that facilitate the investors who are willing to do their investment in the mining sector.
• Having a good relationship with the existing investors like Canada’s first Quantum minerals which is one of the biggest mining operation companies in Zambia.

The market for copper is good since the value of copper will most likely increase as it continues to grow in demand over time. The copper industry needs to spend upwards of $100 billion to close an annual supply deficit of 4.7 million metric tons by 2030 according to estimates from CRU group(Commodities Research Unit).