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LUSAKA, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Zambia's mining investment arm
ZCCM-IH expects to find a new investor for Mopani
Copper Mines by the end of the year, the company and its top
shareholder, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), said
on Wednesday.
ZCCM-IH agreed on Tuesday to buy Glencore's majority stake
in Mopani, taking on $1.5 billion in debt to do so. The
state-owned company is seeking an external investor to fund
expansion projects at the mine, which it hopes will boost annual
copper output from a little more than 34,000 tonnes to 150,000
tonnes.
"We expect a strategic equity partner will be identified
before the end of 2021," the IDC told Reuters.
ZCCM-IH Chief Executive Mabvuto Chipata said he agreed with
that target.
The investor will be expected to take a majority stake in
Mopani and complete expansion projects at a cost of $300
million, mines minister Richard Musukwa said on Tuesday, adding
that companies from Britain, Canada, China, Qatar, South Africa,
and Turkey have shown an interest.
As part of President Edgar Lungu's policy of greater state
control over mines, the stake on offer will not be as high as
the 90% held by Glencore and First Quantum Minerals through
Carlisa Investments Corp, a British Virgin Islands-based
company.
The minister did not specify how large a stake was on the
table.
Zambia's IDC, a government agency charged with promoting
industry, holds 60% of ZCCM-IH while the ministry of finance has
a 17% stake and the National Pension Scheme Authority holds 15%.
(Reporting by Chris Mfula in Lusaka
Additional reporting by Helen Reid in Johannesburg
Editing by David Goodman)
