ZCCM Investments Holdings Plc

Zambia's state mining investment company, ZCCM Investments, expects to generate more than $1.8 billion from its small-scale gold sector by implementing a formalisation strategy inspired by Ghana. CEO Kakenenwa Muyangwa said in an interview cited by Bloomberg that formalising the informal gold trade could substantially raise official export figures, noting a large disparity between gold volumes recorded as imports by other countries and those reported as exports from Zambia. In 2023, the UAE imported almost $1.8 billion of gold from Zambia, while Hong Kong reported imports worth $108 million, but Zambia's central bank showed official exports were valued at less than $128 million. Last year, Ghana's artisanal and small-scale producers collectively earned around $10.8 billion after the state-run Ghana Gold Board directed their gold into formal channels, a model Senegal plans to review. ZCCM has already partnered with Mining Mineral Resources SAS and Kamunshinshi Mineral Resources to produce and purchase gold from artisanal miners, and Muyangwa called it "totally achievable" to raise output from 127,000 ounces to several hundred thousand ounces annually, noting that despite a fall from January's high above $5,400 per ounce to just over $4,300, the price remains elevated.