[miningmx.com] – ZAMBIA’S newly elected president, Edgar Lungu, urged the country to resolve a royalty dispute with foreign-owned miners as well as outstanding tax issues, said the Wall Street Journal citing a presidential statement.
“The ultimate aim is to protect jobs and keep mines profitable at the same time,’ Lungu is quoted to have said in one of his first addresses to his cabinet.
Lungu last week won a rightly run presidential by-election following the death of former president Michael Sata in London last year.
The dispute with miners revolves around newly promulgated laws to increase royalties for open-cast and underground mines instead of imposing corporate taxes on profits – a development that has forced Barrick Gold to mothball its Lumwana mine.
Other miners invested in the southern Africa country, such as First Quantum Minerals, have said the measure will decentivise new mining investments.
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