The Chairman
The Organizers of the Mining Indaba
Distinguished Guests, all Protocols observed, Ladies and Gentlemen

It is my pleasure to be part of this Mining Indaba 2012 in Cape Town. I wish to acknowledge the importance of this event to the mining world and particularly Zambia which has actively participated in this conference over the years. The Mining Indaba brings together investors, financiers and mining professionals with a focus on mining in Africa.
I wish to express my sincere thanks to the organizers of this very important event once more.

Mr. Chairman
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

Let me take this opportunity to state that Zambia through the ministry of mines and natural resources is currently reviewing the policy, legal and regulatory frameworks for the mining industry with a view to respond to the needs of the mining sector and also to promote exploration and mining development. After the review of the act, most of these needs will be addressed.

Zambia remains a very prospective and attractive country for investment in mineral exploration. The most sought after mineral commodities include copper, cobalt, manganese, gold, energy minerals such as uranium and coal, gemstones and industrial minerals.

There are many companies undertaking mineral exploration in Zambia, notable among these are the first quantum minerals in the north western province for copper, uranium and nickel, BHP Biliton for copper and gold in central and western provinces just to mention a few.
There is still more room for would be investors in Zambia.

Mr. Chairman
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
May I now ally all the fears from would be investors into Zambia that the review of the policy, the legal and regulatory framework is not being done to facilitate the nationalisation of the mines. There is no policy in Zambia to nationalise the mines.

Mr. Chairman
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
As you might be aware, Zambia held peaceful elections in September 2011, in which His Excellency President Michael Chilufya Sata emerged victorious. The new Government of the Republic of Zambia in its manifesto recognizes the importance of mining to the national economic development. To this effect, my government has put in place policies to increase production from the current 750,000 tonnes of copper to over 1,000,000 per annum by 2015. To achieve his target, government is encouraging investments in mineral exploration to cover the remaining 42% of Zambia which is still geologically untapped.

Key to the exploration programme is also that of oil and gas where significant potential has been identified. Government is also in the process of coming up with incentives that will encourage value addition and the adoption of environmentally sustainable mining technologies. My government is also encouraging the diversification of minerals, industrial minerals and precious stones.

Mr. Chairman
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

The receipt of applications for mining rights, renewal, transfer, the processing and issuing of mining rights under the mining cadastre unit is currently on suspension. The suspension that is currently in place is to facilitate the cleaning up of the mining rights database and to enhance transparency in the grant and administration of mining rights.

The clean- up exercise will ensure that:
i. No overlaps exist in the mining rights database and thus guaranteeing the security of the tenure.
ii. More ground is opened up for new applications as all defaulting licences will be removed from the system.
iii. The application processing time is greatly reduced following the streamlining of the application processing procedures.
I wish to assure all would be investors that the suspension shall be lifted soon once the exercise is over.