State rakes in US$200m from gold mining in Kansanshi

GOVERNMENT says it has collected US$200 million as revenue from gold mining from Kansanshi mine.

Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development Permanent secretary Paul Chanda told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday that $200m was realised from gold mining in Kansanshi in 2016.

Asked by committee member Teddy Kasonso on the estimated volume of gold exported last year and how much was collected as revenue, Mr Chanda who spoke through Mines director Mooya Lumamba said US$200m was realised in 2016.

"In 2016, US$200m was collected as revenue for gold export from Kansanshi gold mine and the estimated value exported was about 1400 tonnes," he said.

He explained that officers from his ministry were working in collaboration with officers from Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) who were permanently on the ground to monitor mineral productions.

And the committee also advised Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development Permanent Secretary Paul Chanda to pursue defaulting mining rights holders to recover the under collection of revenue amounting to over K3 million.

According to the Auditor General’s report 2016, the ministry was cited for under collection of revenue amounting to K3, 333,830 of the target.

Mr Chanda who admitted that his ministry under collected revenues, however, said it was due to slumped commodity prices, energy shortages and unstable fiscal regime especially the mineral royalty that led to under collection of revenue.

He said due to these reasons, there were fewer submission of new applications for mining rights hence less fees were collected. Mr Chanda said the ministry has since sent demand notices to all mining rights holders with outstanding area charges.

But committee member Mwenya Munkonge advised the him to ensure that all the defaulting mining rights holders were pursued in time to ensure under collected revenues were recovered. And acting committee chairperson Brenda Tambatamba told Mr Chanda to adhere to advice given to him by the committee to avoid being surcharged.