Energy, utilities and mining

Zambia’s mineral wealth remains substantial.

Apart from the traditional mining activities in copper and cobalt the list of investment opportunities in this sector include:

• Precious metal-gold; silver; selenium;
• The platinoid group - iron, tin, nickel and manganese;
• Agro-minerals-rock phosphate and igneous phosphate suitable for conversion to fertilizer, peat, limestone;
• Reclaiming of copper from slug tailing dumps;
• Gemstones-emerald, amethyst, aquamarine, tourmaline; and
• Other deposits-talc, fluorspar, graphite, barytes and clays.

The global economic downturn and the subsequent sharp decline in the world copper prices has had an effect on the operations of the mining sector from late 2008. Despite the turbulence the sector recorded positive growth of 4.9% in 2008, comparing favourably with growth of 3.6% in 2007.

The Government of Zambia considers mining companies as important partners in the process of national development. It therefore proposed a number of fiscal measures to support this industry and enhance its competitiveness in the world markets.

We at PwC are well placed to advise mining and mining related companies on industry best practices. We have served as advisers to various companies and have assisted our clients in a number of areas such as due diligence, statutory audits, internal audits, risk management, asset management, tax planning and tax consultancy.