According to online mining news publication Miningmx.com, Mr Nkhata
said at the ongoing Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town that the two
licences would be granted before the end of the current quarter.
Four mining companies have applied for uranium mining permits under
recently established legislation and two of these will be granted the
licences in the first quarter of 2009, the minister said.
He said the developments in the world financial market had affected production in Zambia's mining industry.
Zambia expects copper production to fall to around 600,000 tonnes this
year from a planned 700,000 tonnes because of shutdowns in the sector
grappling with low copper prices.
For 2009, we were predicting 700,000 tonnes but we've revised that
figure down to about 600,000 tonnes, he said on the sidelines of the
conference.
The Government had to back down from its higher tax regime because of
the reversal of high copper prices, canning the windfall tax introduced
last year and increasing capital allowance to 100 per cent to promote
investment in the country.
Custom duties on copper have been abolished and copper and cobalt
concentrates now qualify for an import deferment scheme for Value Added
Tax purposes.
These measures are aimed at reducing operating costs for the mining companies.
Although the sector recorded positive growth, it was affected by the
sharp decline in metal prices in the third quarter of 2008, thereby,
dampening the prospects of higher growth and profitability, Mr Nkhata
told delegates.
Luanshya Copper Mines and Chambishi Metals have both suspended mining and metallurgical work.
In addition, exploration projects have been severely affected across
the mining sector because projects have no revenue streams and are
mainly dependent on stock exchanges and loans from the banks for
financing.
On oil exploration, the deputy minister said the Government had demarcated 29 blocs for oil and gas exploration.
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