Zambia restricts number of mining licenses per company to 5
Zambia, Africa's second-largest copper producer, said on Monday, 17 October, the number of mining licences that a company can hold at a time will be restricted to five.
Drilling operations at a depth of 516m below the surface at the Chibuluma copper mine in the Zambian copperbelt region. Source: Reuters/Rogan Ward
"Every miner will be restricted to five licences and those that need more will have to justify,” Zambia's mines minister Paul Kabuswe said during a briefing on mining regulations.
“We have had a lot of licences being used for speculative purposes and we want to curtail that,” he said.
The licensing department, which was expected to re-open on 11 April, will resume work on 19 October, Kabuswe added.
The minister also said illegal miners would be given 90 days of amnesty to register with the ministry of mines.