Mining company chair calls for greater integration on critical minerals
Mining company chair calls for greater integration on critical minerals
"Ultimately, we'll create economies of scale within the region, and that'll give us a better position when dealing with international customers" - Kakenenwa Muyangwa, ZCCM-IH Chair
LONDON, UK - The board chair of Zambia's state-owned mining investment holding company has described efforts by African countries to ban the export of unprocessed ores, particularly lithium, as “quite uncoordinated.”
Speaking at the FT Africa Summit in London, Kakenenwa Muyangwa said the bans, which seek to help African countries develop their domestic mineral processing capabilities, lacked a coherent long-term strategy.
Once in a lifetime opportunity
“The bans lack a strategy of how our countries can work together to leverage the quantity of critical minerals that they have and can deliver into the international markets,” he told Capital Markets Africa. In recent months, Namibia, Ghana, and Zimbabwe have all instituted bans on unprocessed lithium.
Muyangwa cited the example of the Southern African Power Pool as a model that African countries could learn from. The SAPP, an initiative of the Southern African Development Community, is a common power grid and market for electricity within the Southern African region. Countries with an excess or deficit of power tap into the market to buy or sell the commodity, depending on their particular needs. “We need to start recognising that the same principle could be applied to critical minerals,” Muyangwa said.
As the global energy transition gathers speed, Africa's vast reserves of critical minerals such as lithium have become the focus of global conversations and investment. As foreign governments and companies pursue a reliable supply of these minerals from the continent, African governments see this as a once in a lifetime opportunity to raise the continent's long-term development prospects.
“It might be that one country has an overwhelming surplus, or the majority of the production, and then the other surrounding countries could shift their production into that country because it has a big advantage,” he said. “Ultimately, we'll create economies of scale within the region, and that'll give us a better position when dealing with international customers.”
Last year, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the DRC-Zambia Battery Council.
Listed entity
ZCCM-IH (also known as Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investments Holdings) was founded in 2000. It holds stakes in various formerly state-owned companies, mostly mines, on behalf of the Zambian government. It is listed on three stock exchanges – the Lusaka Securities Exchange, the Euronext Access Paris, and the London Stock Exchange.
It is majority-owned by Zambian state-owned entities with minority shareholders holding about 7.5% of the company. ZCCM-IH owns 100% of various SOEs including Mopani Copper Mines Plc, which will have a new private owner soon, Ndola Lime Company Plc, and Kariba Minerals Limited. It owns smaller stakes in firms such as Copperbelt Energy Corporation Plc (24%), Maamba Collieries Limited (35%), and Konkola Copper Mines Plc (20.60%).
Last month, the company declared a dividend of 724 million Zambian kwacha (about US$34 million), and it has a market cap of 6.1 billion kwacha (about US$284 million).
In May this year, ZCCM-IH was temporarily suspended from the London Stock Exchange due to delayed publication of financial results for 2021 and 2022. According to a company statement, the delay “was due to the prolonged completion of the fair valuation process of assets and liabilities related to the acquisition of 90% shares of Mopani Copper Mines Plc.”
© Capital Markets Africa, 2023
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