Zambia, Africa’s second largest copper producer, saw its mining revenue drop nearly a third between February and April this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the mining chamber said Thursday.
“Zambia’s mining companies have suffered an alarming drop in revenue over the three months February-April 2020, illustrating the deep impact of COVID-19 on mining companies,” the chamber said in a statement.
Zambia Chamber of Mines (ZCM), an association of mining companies said the 30 percent drop in revenue was due to “the severe global restrictions on movement (that) have played havoc on the mining supply chain and hindered exports and sale of copper.
The collapse in copper prices experienced early this year added to the woes.
Revenue from mining – Zambia’s economic mainstay – is projected to continue on a downward trajectory for another year, it said.
Zambia is Africa’s second-biggest copper-producing country after the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the sector is a major employer.
One of the country’s largest miner global giant, Glencore, last month announced it would cut capital expenditure by as much as a quarter during 2020 due to disruption to supply chains caused by COVID-19 and falling commodity prices.
