70.7kg Kansanshi gold London-bound

OVER 708.7kg of London London good delivery gold is expected to be bought from Kansanshi Copper Mines this year as the Bank of Zambia indicated that this commodity is a critical component on international reserves.

Zambia’s gross international reserved declined by US$117.7 million to US$1.2 billion equivalent to 2.4 months of import cover at end of December 2020.

The central banked remains committed to buy more gold deposits to enhance the country’s reserves, says Bank of Zambia Governor (BoZ), Christopher Mvunga.

Mr Mvunga said gold purchasing would at some point become a significant component of the international reserves.

He said yesterday at a press briefing that the current scenario was the BoZ had bought 47 kilogrammes of dore gold from Zambia Gold Company.

“We are also looking at in terms of purchasing from Kansanshi Copper Mines, our estimates is that we will purchase over 25, 000 ounces of London good delivery gold this year.

“Our projections is to buy

21, 000 ounces of dore gold with the minimum of 88 percent of purity from the Zambia Gold Company,” Mr Mvunga said.

He also said: “we have just kicked off this process, we will ramp it up as we go along and at some point it will become a significant component of our reserves. So the programme is ongoing and we are not abandoning it.”

BoZ Deputy Governor for Operations, Francis Chipimo, said the central bank would buy more gold from Kansanshi Mines before the end of the month.

Dr Chipimo also explained that the purchase of gold has just begun, and will go on for a long time. In December last year, the central bank signed a Gold Purchase Agreement with Kansanshi Mining PLC, a subsidiary of First Quantum Minerals.