According to official government data for the […]

According to official government data for the months of April, 2026 Zambia exported a total of K100.8 million worth of Zinc concentrates to China. The report reveals that Four products were exported to China namely copper anodes for electrolytic refining amounting to K1.2 billion, Electro- won copper cathodes (High Purity) worth 729.7 million.

 Further, copper blister worth K146.2 million was exported to the named country and the four products all rounded together saw Zambia export amount recorded at about K2.4 billion, with copper being the major product.

However, considering the K100.8 million ZINC exported to the country experts from the mining space have called for increased transparency and tracking of Zinc being exported out of the country to ensure that more money is recorded in the country’s coffers.

Meanwhile, Mine expert Charles Mulila has told Zambian Business Times- ZBT that Zinc stands as one of the critical minerals which the county’s needs to take advantage of considering the prices of Zinc on the London Metal Exchange which currently stands at $3.5 thousand tonnes “ Zambia exporting K100.8 million worth of Zinc is a positive but the country needs to take advantage of such critical minerals to ensure that more money comes into the country’s coffers”, said Mulila.

 However, Mulila noted that the challenges of Zinc mining currently in Zambia is the classification of exact quantities of Zinc being exported out of the country and more transparency needs to be archived and tracking to determine whether the K100. 8 million worth Zinc exported really came to Zambia’s coffers.

“Zinc is part of the critical minerals and we need to harness all critical minerals because the demand for all the critical minerals is surging globally and that should be backed by strictly ensuring that the quantities exported are coming back to the country’s coffers”, said Mulila.

He added that the biggest challenge in mining is around transparency and accountability and that’s why the marketing aspect of course when there is a pronouncement of exports to China like the reported K100.8 million zinc to China a follow-up needs to be done to ensure that money hits Zambia’s coffers.

Article by Tyndale Muchiya