(Ecofin Agency) - Zambia revised the figure it declared for its copper production in 2017. Indeed, while the Zambian central bank announced last month a copper output of 786, 731 tons, the State indicated that this figure reached 800, 000 tons (small-scale producers’ output included).

“We actually hit 800,000 tons last year and we anticipate with certainty that we are going to reach a million tons or more this year,” Paul Chanda, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Mines told Reuters, today March 20.

Moreover Zambia, which produced 774,290 tons of copper in 2016, reported that its mining sector generated ZKw37.6 billion in 2017.

Let’s be reminded that according to the former mines minister Christopher Yaluma, the African second-largest copper producer after DRC could produce up to 1.5 million tons of copper in 2019.

Louis-Nino Kansoun