Zambia’s government will cut mineral royalties for underground mines to 6%, lower than the 9% proposed earlier, the presidency said on Friday.“Mineral royalty tax will be reduced to 6% from the earlier proposed 9%. It will remain at 9% for openpit mines,” presidential spokesperson Amos Chanda told the media.The government …

Botswana is the easiest country in which to carry out junior mining activities, a digital vote declared on the first day of the Junior Indaba here on Wednesday.Botswana received the highest vote from the 160 people attending the conference.Botswana at 42% of the digital vote had double South Africa’s 21%, with …

KONKOLA Copper Mines has started importing copper concentrate from Chile which contains arsenic, a toxic chemical element that causes cancer if exposed to humans in uncontrolled quantities. But the mining company says it has taken the necessary precautions to ensure that “this and all impurities are captured and safely stored …

MINES deputy minister Charles Zulu says investors in mines should not resort to expressing their displeasure with any government policy change by threatening to lay off workers. And Mopani Copper Mines chief executive officer Johan Hansen says what is required most in the mining sector is stability in tax regime. …

COPPERBELT Show Society chairman Bill Osborne says investor confidence in Zambia at the moment is very low. And President Edgar Lungu says the country must move away from perceiving mining as a mere source of revenue, and see it as a catalyst for economic transformation. Speaking when President Lungu opened …

A joint venture between Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) State miner and two Chinese companies, signed under a 2009 “minerals for infrastructure” deal, will begin producing copper before the end of 2015, the DRC’s government said on Thursday.Under the deal Chinese companies pledged to build $3-billion worth of roads, railways, …

The powerful governor of Democratic Republic of Congo’s Katanga province warned on Wednesday against significant tax hikes in a proposed new mining code amid a recent decline in copper prices.The southeastern province accounts for nearly all of the vast central African state’s copper production, which surpassed one-million tonnes for the first time …

Underground at Acacia Mining’s Bulyanhulu mine A report recently released by EY has demonstrated the significant impact that African gold miner Acacia Mining’s activities in Tanzania continue to have on the country’s economic development. Entitled Acacia Mining Total Economic and Tax Contributions in Tanzania, 2014, the report demonstrated that in 2014, Acacia purchased …

MINEWORKERS unions say the suspension of 139 workers at Barrick Lumwana Mine in North-Western Province is an indirect way of retrenching employees. Barrick Lumwana Mine management has suspended 139 workers, mostly those who were suspected to have taken part in the threatened mine closure protests following increased mineral royalty taxes. …

Minerals developer Triton Minerals has raised A$12-million through a share placement to a Hong Kong investor, institutional groups and sophisticated investors. The miner said on Monday that it had placed some 34.3-million shares, at 35c each, to raise the funding that would enable Triton to rapidly progress the definitive feasibility …