Zambia Chamber of Mines CEO Sokwani Chilembo has welcomed the easing of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions in South Africa, remarking that it will hopefully reinvigorate copper exports to China.
Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that Chilembo had acknowledged that Zambia’s mining activity, responsible for about 80% of the country’s GDP, had been adversely affected by the coronavirus.
Answering a question about the pandemic’s impact, he said: “Yes, Covid-19 has indeed affected our exports of copper to China and this has mainly to do with lockdowns in the region.
“As you know, for us to export we have to pass through other countries like Botswana and South Africa. So the lockdowns imposed in those countries have affected us.”
And although official figures are still being collated for a comprehensive data assessment of the state of the country’s mining sector following the outbreak, leading economist and chancellor of Mulungushi University, Oliver Saasa, has called for protection of the industry.
He said Zambia’s mining sector should be safeguarded against black swan events such as Covid-19 as copper and other mineral extraction accounted for at least 80% of the country’s foreign exchange earnings.
According to Xinhua, an internal report called The Road to Recovery has found that Zambia is suffering a 30% collapse in revenue because of Covid-19’s impact on mining.
