The time this week is ‘mining o’clock’, all roads lead to the annual prestigious event held in Cape Town, the Mining Indaba to run from the February 6-9th. This summit is one of the most critical platforms to set the tome for mining not only as a sector that drives growth for attending nations, but more importantly for the electric vehicle and renewable energy boom. With strong global decarbonization in response to heightening climate change threats, metals are expected to rally in price as demand swells to support the energy and automobile industry. Zambia’s largest bank by asset size and profitability, Zambia National Commercial Bank Plc is this week at the Cape Town Mining Indaba supporting Africa’s mining boom.
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Unlocking African mining investment through stability, security and supply will theme this years summit for which Zanaco stands ready to partner with public and private sector stakeholders to actualize Zambia’s dreams. Africa’s second largest copper producer Zambia is at a critical stage of its economic lifecycle characterized by fiscal efforts to restructure debt while its authorities have taken strides to stimulate the private sector as key drivers of effective growth. Having left its peers in the dust at the 2022 session that featured President Hakainde Hichilema who pledged unwavering support to the sector through championing the requisite mining policy and taxes, Zambia comes back this year with a stronger propensity to drive African mining harder.
The Southern African nation in May 2022 signed an economic memorandum with the Democratic Republic of Congo in Lusaka to support development of electric car battery production and value chain, the two green metal producers signed a similar charter with the United States of America in Washington in December 2022 on the sidelines of the Africa’s Leadership summit.
Commenting on the development, Zanaco Chief Executive Officer Mukwandi Chibesakunda said the home grown bank believes that investing in the African Mining Indaba is an opportunity for stakeholders to dialogue on opportunities, hurdles and solutions to grow the mining sector across the continent. Zanaco’ s exposure to the mining sector averages $80 million.
“The mining sector is the largest tax payer and private sector employer in Zambia and as Zanaco, we need to ensure that it plays its role effectively by supporting it as much as possible,” she said.
Zanaco continues to support enhancement of value addition through its collaborations with partners such as Barrick Lumwana and WEAC on the 10x accelerator to build capacity for SME’s, the downstream business support system of the mines. Additionally Zanaco provides support through outright lending to various mining conglomerates.
The mining indaba is expected to shine a spotlight on energy to power mining expansion, the importance of the right policies and taxes and a ‘Made in Africa for Africa’ message. Zambia seeks to ramp its mining output to 3 million metric tons in the next decade from the current circa 800k metric ton level. Mining for Zambians is a sector that can driver the required growth, create employment and help address the fiscal issues the red metal producer faces.
The Kwacha Arbitrageur
