Zambia lays ground work for minerals trading company

ZAMBIA this week approved the creation of a special purpose vehicle that will invest and trade in the country’s mineral resources, said Bloomberg News.

It follows comments made by Zambia president Hakainde Hichilema in an interview with the newswire in February in which he expressed his interest in capitalising on mineral production in the same way as Glencore’s trading business and Trafigura.

Information and Media Minister Cornelius Mweetwa said in a statement on Wednesday the state-based minerals trading firm would “move away from the dividend payment model for mineral resources and adopt a production-based sharing mechanism to ensure benefits accrue to the people of Zambia beyond statutory obligations”.