Zambia’s currency, the Kwacha, surged 1.3% on Wednesday March 30, 2016 traded at $11.1 after Mopani Copper Mines’s parent company, Glencore Plc, announced it will invest $1.1 billion to rehabilitate three of its mines.
The Swiss miner thus scaled up $150 million the $950 million investment it announced in October 2015.
The statement announced a new offer for more dollars in a Zambian market with a stabilized demand for the American currency. The investment will extend over three years and mainly aims to extend by 25 years exploitation of the tree mines, at a more competitive price.
Asides strengthening Zambia’s payment balance, Glencore’s investment should also come as a relief the Zambian employees of these three mines amid fear of massive job cutting as lack in power, and fall in global prices of mining commodities impacted operators’ margins. In the case of Mopani Copper Mines, more than 3,000 jobs out of the current 10,000 might be cut.
Idriss Linge