Zambia's new government will institute new guidelines for metals exports in the first quarter of 2012 that aim to enhance transparency in Africa's largest copper producer, the minister of mines said on Tuesday. The country's new president, Michael Sata, has expressed concerns that copper exporters are misrepresenting the amount of metal leaving the country.
Sata temporarily suspended metal export permits in October to route all products through the central bank but later lifted the ban, saying it would introduce new export guidelines.
"The committee which was constituted should be concluding its work this week, and after that the minister of finance and myself will sit to approve the new guidelines," Mines Minister Wylbur Simuusa told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.
"The new guidelines should be in place within the first quarter of 2012."
Data shows much of Zambia's exported copper is destined for Switzerland but little of it shows up in Swiss customs figures, raising questions about transparency.
The government next month will also introduce new rules on the issuance of mining licences, which were suspended in October to root out potential corruption, Simuusa said.
"I will be unveiling the new procedure, which will be more transparent and efficient, and that should happen before the end of January," he said.
The ministry of mines will play a bigger supervisory role in the new system after the government found that many people who had been granted licences passed them on to others rather than use them, Simuusa added.
Foreign mining companies operating in Zambia include Canada's First Quantum Minerals, London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc, Glencore International Plc, Barrick Gold and Metorex of South Africa.
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