Petroleum / Mining in Zambia
-
BOTSWANA, 2017/07/17
Tanzania’s president John Magufuli last week left mining houses reeling next signing into law a set of bills that would radically alter the playing field.
The new laws allow the country to renegotiate all of its current mining contracts, increase royalties, and partially nationalise mining projects.
“The laws as well deny the rights of mining companies to seek international arbitration and relief in the event of a dispute with the government,” reports The West Australian.
-
BOTSWANA, 2017/05/04
Ghana and Nigeria are the first countries to respond to reports of European companies exploiting weak fuel standards in Africa. Stricter limits on the sulfur content of diesel will come into force on July 1.
Governments in West Africa are taking action to stop the import of fuel with dangerously high levels of sulfur and other toxins. Much of the so-called "dirty diesel" originates in Europe, according to a report published by Public Eye, a Swiss NGO, last year.
The report exposed what Public Eye calls the "illegitimate business" of European oil companies and commodities traders selling low quality fuel to Africa. While European standards prohibit the use of diesel with a sulfur content higher than 10 parts per million (ppm), diesel with as much as 3,000 ppm is regularly exported to Africa.
-
BOTSWANA, 2016/05/11
Oil, gold, diamonds, palm oil, cocoa, timber: raw materials have long been linked to Africa in a lot of businesspeople’s minds. And in fact the continent is highly dependent on commodities: they constitute as much as 95% of some nations’ export revenues, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
But propping a country’s entire economy on commodities is risky business, like building a mountainside home on stilts. You can’t be sure about the weather, or in this case the commodities market. The current free-fall of oil prices to less than $40 a barrel is a glaring example. “The commodities cycle has tanked out,” says Austin Okere, founder of Computer Warehouse Group (CWG), a Nigerian emerging multinational financial services company. “And this time it looks additional structural than cyclical, so it’s not a matter of waiting it out. Something has to give.”
-
ZAMBIA, 2015/11/17
Nationalize the mines to protect jobs: this is the request by the Confederation of Unions of Zambia next the announcement by the Swiss Glencore firm that it will halt in extraction activities at one of the country’s major copper mines.
“We wish to take this opportunity to earnestly appeal to adhere to our advice, failure to which the government should take over the running of the mines,” said Confederation of Trade Unions of Zambia president, in regard to the risk of job cuts at the Mopani mine.
-
UNITED KINGDOM, 2015/01/06
London copper edged lower on Tuesday, falling for a fifth consecutive session to trade around its lowest in four and a half years on worries about slowing request in top consumer China.
Reuters said the three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell 0.2 %, or US$9.75 a tonne, to US$6,280.25, next hitting US$6,230 a tonne on Monday, the lowest since June 2010.
The statement said the majority-traded copper arrangement on the Shanghai Futures Exchange finished 0.2 % higher at 45,290 Yuan a tonne.
"We think the price has a little bit additional room to fall, I will not be surprised to see prices go down to $6,000 a tonne," said one metals trader in Shanghai.
-
ZAMBIA, 2013/01/14
KONKOLA Copper Mines (KCM) says the arrangement for U and M Mining Services expired on December 31, 2012 and terms for renewal have not been agreed.
And the mining giant says it is set to reach the additional than 400,000 tonnes of copper production per annum.
-
BOTSWANA, 2012/12/25
World gas request is projected to reach 3,460.7 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2013, constituting an increase of 3.6% from 3,341.4 bcm in 2012. North America's gas consumption is estimate to reach 890.3 bcm in 2013, equivalent to 25.7% of world request. It would be followed by Asia & Australia with 720.8 bcm (20.8%), Eastern Europe & the Commonwealth of Independent States with 587.4 bcm (17%), Western Europe with 533 bcm (15.4%), the Middle East with 445.7 bcm (12.9%),
-
ZAMBIA, 2012/12/21
MINISTRY of Mines permanent secretary Victor Mutambo says the government has embarked on recruitment of highly-qualified mine experts that will be monitoring mine operations from the point of production to export.
Speaking after touring CNMC Lunshya Copper Mine's Mulyashi Mine on Saturday, Mutambo said the recruitment of mine experts was in line with the implementation programme of the Statutory Instrument number 34 of 2012 that was meant to enhance transparency in the country's mining sector.
-
ZAMBIA, 2012/11/07
The Zambian government has said it is assessing possibility of facilitating for a private sector-driven business venture of exporting fuel to Malawi and Mozambique to forestall smugglings of the commodity.
Energy and Water Development Permanent Secretary George Zulu said it was clear that there was request for fuel in some regions of the two neighbouring nations which were near Chipata district.
-
ZAMBIA, 2012/11/02
NDOLA Energy Company has started building a high pressure, 286-metre Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) pipeline that will transport the US$60 million electricity plant's feedstock from Indeni Petroleum Refinery to its premises.Ndola Energy Company project controller Frank Ndubi said the company was using HFO to produce 50 megawatts of electricity at the plant using left-over oil after Indeni refines crude oil into various petroleum products.Mr Ndubi said the company was the pioneer in the use of HFO to power generators producing electricity.
