Zambia’s copper mines would be threatened should the price of the metal extend its decline to $5,000 a metric ton, according to the country’s mines minister, Christopher Yaluma.
Copper has dropped 13 percent this year to the lowest levels since 2010. The metal, which last traded below $5,000 a ton in July 2009, was down 1.4 percent to $6,415 as of 12:36 p.m. on the London Metals Exchange.
“When it starts getting to $5,000 and below,” that would threaten mines in Zambia, Yaluma told reporters on the sidelines of a mining conference in Lusaka, the southern African nation’s capital. “I don’t think this is going to carry on; it will still bounce back.”
The slump in the price of copper, which accounts for about 70 percent of Zambia’s export earnings, has seen the kwacha weaken 8.3 percent this year, the worst performer among the African currencies tracked by Bloomberg. Yaluma expects Zambia to regain its position as Africa’s top producer of the metal, which it lost last year to the Democratic Republic of Congo, when new mining projects start production.
Written by Matthew Hill/Read more atBloombergBusinessweek
