Skip to content
Subscriber Only
Markets

Zambian President Threatens to ‘Divorce’ Vedanta, Glencore

  • Threat marks a spike in tensions between miners, government
  • Kwacha is world’s second-worst performing currency this year
Batches of copper sheets are stored in a warehouse and wait to be loaded on trucks in Mufilira, Zambia. 

Batches of copper sheets are stored in a warehouse and wait to be loaded on trucks in Mufilira, Zambia. 

Photographer: Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images Europe
Updated on

Zambian President Edgar Lungu threatened to “divorce” the domestic copper units of Vedanta Resources Plc and Glencore Plc after the companies said they’d curb operations in the southern African nation.

The threat marks an escalation in tensions between the mining industry in Africa’s second-biggest copper producer and the state, after an increase in royalties and plans to introduce new taxes. Last week, Mines Minister Richard Musukwa said the government directed Glencore’s Mopani Copper Mines to hand over two shafts to local contractors rather than close them.