Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) in the Copperbelt province of Zambia, majority of it owned by Vedanta Resources, has suspended operations at its Nchanga mine following the introduction of import duty on copper concentrates, the company said.
Zambia, Africa’s No.2 copper producer, introduced new mining duties, increased royalties and plans to replace Value Added Tax (VAT) with a sales tax by April to help bring down mounting debt.
KCM said in a note to employees, seen by Reuters, that operations at the mine would be suspended from Jan. 4 due to low availability of acid as a result of rationalised operations at its Nchanga smelter.
Operations at the smelter were downsized due to low availability of concentrates after the government introduced an import duty on concentrates, KCM said.
“The introduction of 5 percent import duty on concentrates has made the smelting of imported concentrates commercially unviable,” the company said.