Zambia says mines have failed to show impact of higher taxes

Mining companies operating in Zambia have failed to show how higher taxes introduced this year will affect their profitability despite objecting to the new framework, a senior government official said on Thursday.

The country, Africa’s second-largest copper producer, increased its sliding scale for royalties of 4% to 6% by 1.5 percentage points from January 1 and introduced a new 10% tax when the price of copper exceeds $7 500/t.