Mercuria is collaborating with Zambia on a mineral trading project

The joint venture will buy and sell copper domestically and for export, and over time will assume responsibility for trading Zambia’s share of copper production from mines to which a state-controlled company contributes, according to people familiar with the matter. This could eventually represent more than 250,000 tons of copper per year if various expansion and mine expansion plans succeed, according to a recent report. Bloomberg account.

Mercuria will provide the financing, which will likely amount to hundreds of millions of dollars, said one of the people, who asked to remain anonymous, noting the private nature of the information.

The move is intended to provide greater transparency about the profits made by mineral traders for the Zambian government, which has long suspected that too large a share of copper earnings went to foreign companies. In February, one of the president’s top economic advisers said Bloomberg The country He wanted to get involved in the copper tradeHe complained that “too much financial engineering, or so-called creative accounting,” was cutting into government profits.

Commercial houses are restricting access to minerals vital to the energy transition. For Mercuria and others, this means huge investments in African countries such as Zambia, the continent’s second-largest copper producer.

“You will see us being very present in Africa and putting our money where our mouth is regarding the Copperbelt,” Pentas said in October.

IDC holds a 60.3% stake in ZCCM Investments Holdings Plc, which holds minority stakes in major copper projects operated by global mining companies including First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and Vedanta Resources Ltd.

The partnership with Mercuria will help “position Zambia as a major player in international markets,” IDC CEO Cornwell Mulia said in the statement.

(Written by Archie Hunter, William Close and Jack Farshi)