This archive report was first published on 17 July 2019.
Published on July 17, 2019, Zambia's mines minister, Richard Musukwa, announced that nine companies have shown interest in taking over the country's largest copper miner, Konkola Copper Mines (KCM).
The move comes as KCM is at the centre of a legal battle between its London-based majority owner, Vedante Resources, and Zambian President Edgar Lungu, who has vowed to dissolve the firm.
"As the court process is going on we have a lot of interested companies wanting to take over...In fact there are nine," said minister Richard Musukwa.
The companies eyeing KCM are from Australia, Canada, China, Russia, and Turkey, and the bidding process is expected to be completed within the coming few weeks, according to the minister.
With Zambia being Africa's second copper producer after the Democratic Republic of Congo, accounting for 12 percent of GDP in 2016, the government is keen to capitalize on the mining sector for tax revenue.
President Lungu has told international mining companies opposing his fiscal policies to leave the country, and the judgement on KCM is expected on July 23 in the high court of Johannesburg.
