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Zambia
is the world's fourth largest copper producer and the largest
producer of cobalt. Although copper output is decreasing, new
reserves are being discovered but are yet to be exploited. The
copper industry has over the years grown to ern over 80 percent
of the country’s export earnings, producing just less than
15 percent of GDP. With further investment, especially after
the sale of the mines to private investors, copper is envisaged
as having a much longer productive life span than the 15 years
forecast for current mines.
Zambia,
furthermore has cobalt deposits in excess of one billion tonnes
in one area and about 3.5 million tonnes in another, making
it the producer of a fifth of the world’s cobalt reserves. Other
significant mineral products include gold, silver, zinc, lead,
gem-quality emeralds, amethyst, coal, selenium, limestone,
and uranium. Zambia also has reserves of phosphates, fluorspar
and iron ore.
- In
order to ensure favourable investment prospects in the mining
sector, the Mines and Minerals Act provides numerous incentives
including:
- Duty-free
imports and exemption from value added tax (VAT) for all
machinery and equipment, including any specialised vehicle;
- Deductions
on prospecting expenditures during the year incurred, with
deductions able to be passed on to shareholders;
- Deducations
of capital expenditures on producing mines from profits
during the year the expenditures were made; and
- Deduction
of expenditures on inactive mines from income generated
by producing mines, up to a maximum 20 percent of the income
tax otherwise owed.
Several
manufacturing campanies also operate in the country to support
the mining industry, like those in heavy machinery, construction,
gases, engineering, lime production, energy and transportation.
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Mining
