Rising copper prices were also expected to boost revenuecollection in
Ministry of Mines Permanent Secretary Paul Chanda said thecopper production figure was revised upwards to 800,000 tonnesfrom 786,731 tonnes announced by the central bank last month.
The southern African country produced 774,290 tonnes ofcopper in 2016.
"We actually hit 800,000 tonnes last year and we anticipatewith certainty that we are going to reach a million tonnes ormore this year," Chanda told Reuters in an interview.
"With electric cars whose major ingredient is copper comingon the market, demand for the metal is expected to remain highand this is a big incentive for mining companies," Chanda said.
Chanda said projects such as a new shaft by Mopani CopperMines (MCM) owned by Glencore and an expansion projectby China Non-Ferrous Africa Mining (NFCA) would start productionthis year and further boost copper output in 2018 and beyond.
Other mining companies operating in