Privatised mining industry drives growth and development

By Brenda Zulu
Zambia’s modern copper growth story really started around the turn of the century, in 2000, with the privatisation of the country’s copper mines, says Nathan Chishimba, president of the Chamber of Mines.

Speaking at a media conference today, Chishimba says available statistics show a dramatic improvement, from 2000 to 2011, of key indicators not just of the mining industry itself, but the economy in general.

“The newly privatised industry was able to invest and modernise, and so take maximum advantage of the steadily rising demand for copper coming out of China,” he says. 

This drove Zambia’s development, spurring GDP growth and helping the country achieve annual growth rates of 7% to 10%. 

“In the first decade of the new century, the mining industry has ploughed more than US $10 billion into new mining ventures. It has trebled the country’s annual mining output to around 800 000 tonnes and increased employment fourfold to more than 80 000. This mining growth has been key in taking government tax revenue from less than half a billion in 2000 to a peak of K8 billion ten years later,” Chishimba says.

In addition, the mines were able to invest heavily in CSR and socio-economic development in local communities. These include the funding and operation of schools and hospitals; the building of roads, houses and community infrastructure; and the funding of scholarships at school and university level.