LUSAKA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Large mining firms operating in Zambia on Wednesday denied reports that they were exporting copper concentrates.
Last week, the Mineworkers Union of Zambia (MUZ), a trade union representing workers in the mining industry, said the government should ban the export of copper concentrate by mining firms because the trend was creating jobs for other countries.
But the Zambia Chamber of Mines, an association of foreign large mining firms operating in Zambia, has dismissed the allegations, saying none of the mining firms was involved in exporting copper concentrates.
"None of the large mines are exporting copper concentrate. It makes no economic sense anyway, because Zambia's smelters are currently not running at full capacity, and are struggling to find enough concentrate to process. Concentrate is even being imported from the Democratic Republic of Congo to keep certain smelters operating efficiently," Nathan Chishimba, the president of the association said.
He said if there was any exporting of copper concentrates by Zambian mines, it was being done by small-scale producers who were unable to have their copper concentrates processed locally for reasons related to their quality.
