ABU DHABI – President Hakainde Hichilema has met the Chief Executive Officer of International Resources Holding (IRH), the UAE-based company that owns a 51 percent stake in Mopani Copper Mines, as he begins his two-day working visit to the United Arab Emirates. Hichilema said the meeting with IRH CEO Ali Rashed Alrashdi focused on Zambia’s […]

ABU DHABI – President Hakainde Hichilema has met the Chief Executive Officer of International Resources Holding (IRH), the UAE-based company that owns a 51 percent stake in Mopani Copper Mines, as he begins his two-day working visit to the United Arab Emirates.

Hichilema said the meeting with IRH CEO Ali Rashed Alrashdi focused on Zambia’s ambition to raise annual copper production to three million tonnes and on ensuring that Zambians benefit more directly from the mining sector.

“Raising copper production to three million tonnes a year is central to our Grow Zambia agenda, and Mopani Copper Mines is key to reaching that target,” Hichilema said in a message posted on his official Facebook page.

He said the Government had also emphasised the need for mining companies to fully implement Zambia’s Local Content law so that more Zambians participate in and benefit from the mining industry.

IRH acquired a 51 percent stake in Mopani in March 2024, with ZCCM-IH retaining 49 percent.

Hichilema takes copper agenda to Abu Dhabi

The Mopani meeting comes at the start of Hichilema’s first foreign trip since the August 13 general election.

The President arrived in Abu Dhabi on Monday for a two-day visit at the invitation of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

His programme includes an official bilateral meeting with Sheikh Mohamed, the signing of memoranda of understanding, a Zambia-UAE Business and Investment Forum, engagements with UAE business leaders and a meeting with the Zambian community.

Mining and mineral value addition are among the priority areas identified for investment and joint ventures during the visit.

For Mopani, the UAE connection is particularly important because IRH is the company’s majority shareholder. IRH says its investment is aimed at revitalising and modernising Mopani and has set production expansion targets for the mine.

Hichilema’s meeting with Alrashdi therefore places Mopani directly within the Government’s wider ambition to raise national copper production to three million tonnes annually.

Questions over photographs posted before departure

While the President’s official programme in Abu Dhabi has now been confirmed, debate has continued in Zambia over photographs released around his departure.

Former diplomat Emmanuel Mwamba questioned one of the photographs posted on the President’s Facebook page, asking why an old file photograph would be reproduced without disclosure that it was old.

That claim triggered a debate online, with some social-media users questioning the age of the photographs while others defended them as genuine images from the President’s departure.

The reactions supplied to Zambian Eye include conflicting views. Some commenters argued that the photographs were old, while others said they had seen the presidential convoy leaving and pointed to the uniforms and identities of current security-service commanders visible in the images.

One response specifically argued that the photograph could not have been taken in January 2023 because the individuals visible included Police Inspector General Graphel Musamba, Zambia Air Force Commander Lieutenant General Oscar Nyoni and Army Commander Lieutenant General Geoffrey Choongo Zyeele, all of whom took their respective positions after the date being alleged.

Those arguments, however, are claims made in the online debate rather than an independent forensic verification by Zambian Eye.

What about claims concerning the President’s health?

The debate over the photographs has also been accompanied by speculation on social media about the President’s health and questions about why official images are being used.

Zambian Eye has not independently verified those claims.

What can be independently established is that Hichilema has arrived in Abu Dhabi, where he is undertaking the announced two-day working visit, and that he has already held a meeting with the IRH chief executive. ZNBC has also reported his arrival and the official programme for the visit.

The President’s official message from Abu Dhabi also records his meeting with the Mopani majority shareholder’s CEO and sets out the subjects discussed.

The photograph controversy is therefore separate from the confirmed diplomatic and economic programme.

Why Mopani matters to the Grow Zambia agenda

Mopani is one of Zambia’s major copper assets and is now majority-owned by IRH, with ZCCM-IH retaining a 49 percent stake.

Hichilema’s three-million-tonne copper target is one of the central production ambitions of his second-term Grow Zambia programme. The target was included among the Government’s major production goals unveiled at the start of the President’s second term.

The President’s message in Abu Dhabi adds another dimension to that target: local participation.

Hichilema says the Government wants mining companies to implement Local Content requirements so that increased production also translates into greater participation by Zambian businesses and workers.

Mopani itself has been implementing local supplier-development initiatives under Zambia’s Local Content framework, including a programme involving local companies and small-scale miners.

The Abu Dhabi meeting therefore puts three issues together: Mopani’s production, Zambia’s three-million-tonne copper target and the Government’s demand for greater local participation in mining.

The separate debate over the departure photographs continues online, but the President’s arrival in the UAE and his meeting with the IRH leadership are now independently reported developments.