Zambian president has plans for impact of copper price slide

As one of the world’s biggest copper producers, Zambia is staggering from changes to the copper price which slid from US$8 000 per metric tonne to about 3 100 in less than six months. As Zambia’s mining industry feeds many other industries, the chain effect of a slowdown in the copper belt has potentially devastating consequences. Chibamba Kanyama, an economist from the Economics Association of Zambia, said the international crisis was making it difficult for mines to source capital for further exploration. “The mining companies are really failing to source working capital and their shareholders are apprehensive about further investment in mining companies. The reduction in growth in China has significantly affected demand for both base metals and the platinum family of metals. We are facing massive redundancies; so far we have lost over 2 000 (jobs) and this is too much for a country that has only 400 000 in formal employment.” In response to the crisis, Zambia’s President Banda assured his countrymen that the government was working out plans to ensure that people losing employment in mining companies did not remain unemployed. “We want to ensure that our workers do not remain unemployed. How we are going to do it we do not quite know yet, but we are definitely making plans to enable our people in Luanshya to continue with employment,” he said.