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Zambia expects to decide on an investor to take over Mopani Copper Mines by the end of this month from a shortlist of four companies, the country’s Finance and National Planning Minister said.
China’s Zijin Mining Group, Norinco Group, Sibanye Stillwater and an investment vehicle owned by ex-Glencore officials are short-listed to buy Mopani, Reuters reported last week.
“Right now, they are being asked to put in their last, final bids,” with the selection of one investor expected by the end of July, Situmbeko Musokotwane said in an interview on state-owned Zambia National Broadcasting Corp on Sunday.
Zambia’s majority state-owned ZCCM Investments Holdings agreed in January 2021 to buy Mopani from Glencore for US$1 and US$1.5 billion in debt, which it has yet to pay.
The government expects a similar time frame for a resolution for Konkola Copper Mines, Musokotwane said. Vedanta Resources is bogged down in legal challenges with the Zambian government over its ownership of Konkola, which dates back to 2019.
Zambia is Africa’s second-largest copper producer and targets to more than triple its annual production to 3 million tons by 2031. — Bloomberg
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