FQM Spearheads Mine Transparency
FIRST Quantum Minerals (FQM) has won praise for pioneering an openness and transparency in the mining sector that aims to ensure government has an accurate record of the minerals being produced and processed in the country.
The commendation came as European Union Ambassador and Head of Delegation Alessandro Mariani toured the group’s Kansanshi mine in Solwezi on Friday (May 20).
”This mine is ahead in terms of reports in production, and ensuring transparency will be beneficial to government. The European Union is supporting government in having a system that captures the production and this effort by Kansanshi mine will help to capture taxes that are paid by the mines,” said Mr Mariani, during his visit to Kansanshi, which is the largest copper producer in Africa.
FQM, the largest taxpayer in Zambia, has committed to supporting government in its quest to ensure full transparency and accountability in the production of mineral resources, and was among the first to adopt the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development’s new EU-supported reporting mechanism introduced at the beginning of this year under the Mineral Production Monitoring Support Project.
Kansanshi Mine Public Relations Manager Godfrey Msiska said the steps taken to ensure transparency and accountability in mineral production will help reinforce the mining industry’s position as the backbone of Zambia’s economy.
“We are proud that we are the pioneers of this effort to ensure transparency and accountability. Tenets of good corporate governance require us to be accurate in the way numbers are reported and if we are to be part of the mainstay of the economy, we have to account for what is due to Zambia – this is a central aim of the Mineral Production and Monitoring Support Project at the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development,” said Mr Msiska.
FQM ranks number one in Africa for mining investment, having invested some US$4 billion in developing the Kansanshi mine since 2005, transforming the economy of North-Western Province and creating employment for more than 8,500 people. FQM is also currently commisioning the US$2.1bn Sentinel Mine 120km West of Kansanshi. Kansanshi produced 227,000 tonnes of copper and more than 136,000 ounces of gold in 2015. It paid K1.74 billion of taxes to the government in 2015, excluding PAYE.
“I’m so impressed with the mine’s investment and the work it is doing, especially in its corporate social responsibility programmes. These programmes are helping a lot of people in communities around the mine and this investment will continue to deliver valuable economic benefits to Zambia,” added Mr Mariani.
The Ambassador was accompanied on his visit to Kansanshi by Ron Smit, Team Leader of the European Union-funded Mineral Production Monitoring Support Project under the supervision of the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development. The Project aims to strengthen the ability of the Ministry to monitor mineral production in Zambia; once complete the Project will provide a freely available single-source of universally accepted mineral production data which will enable other Government agencies to “facilitate the mobilisation of the appropriate levels of domestic revenue”.