[{"bbox": [96, 153, 1134, 238], "category": "Text", "text": "sector is administered through the MMMD Departments, in particular the Geological Survey Department, the Mines Development Department, the Mining Cadastre Department and the Mines safety Department of the MMMD."}, {"bbox": [96, 239, 1134, 587], "category": "Text", "text": "The Zambian mining sector has undergone fundamental ownership transformation in the last decades¹³. It is now mainly governed by the *Mines and Minerals Development Act 2015*¹⁴ and the Environmental Management Act governs environmental issues and the potential impact of the extractive sector on the environment. The regulatory framework has been undergoing substantial transformations during the last years, including the upcoming bill on the establishment of the Mineral Commission and the drafting of new policy and legal instruments, such as the Local Content Regulation, the Geological and Minerals Development Bill, the National Critical Mineral Strategy and the National Strategic & Sensitive Assets Bill. Furthermore, the Mines and Minerals Development policy should draw lessons from the 2021 National Lands policy that placed a quota on the land distribution of 50% of available land for alienation being reserved for women and 20% for the youth and persons with disabilities, alignment with the commitments envisaged in the National Gender Policy, National Youth Policy and National Disability Policy."}, {"bbox": [96, 588, 1134, 732], "category": "Text", "text": "The Cabinet in 2023 approved the publication and introduction in Parliament of the *The Minerals Regulation Commission Bill*. The objectives of this Bill include, among others, to establish the Minerals Regulation Commission and provide for its functions: regulate and monitor the development and management of mineral resources in the Republic and the establishment of the Mining Appeals Tribunal. As of May 2024, the Bill is at the third reading at the National Assembly."}, {"bbox": [96, 732, 1134, 934], "category": "Text", "text": "The Local Content Regulation¹⁵, currently under negotiation through the Public Private Dialogue Forum (PPDF)¹⁶ requires mining and mining related companies to procure mining goods and all non-technical mining services from local companies or communities. This has prompted the reaction of the mining companies because compliance with such regulation would require substantial changes in the current sourcing network due to the allegedly limited capacity of Zambian companies. Similar concerns are also triggered by the *Mineral Regulation Commission Bill*¹⁷, in particular by the risks that the expropriation clause creates."}, {"bbox": [96, 935, 1134, 1137], "category": "Text", "text": "On the fiscal front, the instability of Zambia's mining tax regime – which witnessed ten amendments in 16 years – has been one of the reasons that deterred foreign investment. However, since coming into Government in 2021, the new administration introduced tax incentives to encourage investments in the mining sector, such as the deductibility of mineral royalty in the 2022 budget and the restructuring of the mineral royalty tax to lower the effective payable rate in the 2023 budget. The recent fiscal reforms have contributed to the new investments in Mopani Copper Mine and the resolution of the dispute on Konkola Copper Mines (KCM)¹⁸."}, {"bbox": [96, 1137, 1134, 1224], "category": "Text", "text": "In 2017, during the 3rd Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), Zambia accepted a recommendation to develop a National Action Plan (NAP) on Business and Human Rights (B&HR). Since then, very little has been done to align domestic laws and policies to the UN guiding principles on"}, {"bbox": [85, 1308, 1143, 1382], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹³ The sector has been nationalized in 1969 and re-privatized in the late 1990s. The period of state ownership and management had an enduring impact on national and popular perceptions of the role and performance of the sector, such as a community's expectations of mine-provided social services."}, {"bbox": [85, 1382, 1143, 1478], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁴ *The Mines and Minerals Act of 1995*, subsequently amended in 2015 and 2016, simplified licensing procedures significantly, placed minimum reasonable constraints on prospecting and mining activities and created a favourable investment environment. At the same time, the act allowed international arbitration to be written into development agreements, if deemed necessary (https://www.parliament.gov zm/node/5212)."}, {"bbox": [85, 1478, 1143, 1502], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁵ This regulation is promulgated under the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) Act (Ministry of Commerce)"}, {"bbox": [85, 1502, 1143, 1550], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁶ The PPDF) was launched in 2022 by the President as a structured participatory and inclusive platform for public private sector engagements."}, {"bbox": [85, 1550, 1143, 1598], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁷ Key points of the Bill are: 1) replaces the current 2015 Act; 2) establishes the Mineral Regulation Commission; 3) allows for expropriation (section15)."}, {"bbox": [85, 1598, 1143, 1647], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹⁸ Zambia's previous government, which left office in mid-2021, took over control of KCM in 2019 and appointed a provisional liquidator after disputes with then-owner Vedanta. It also acquired Mopani from Glencore in 2021."}, {"bbox": [608, 1654, 623, 1676], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "7"}]