Zambia’s Mining Sector Sets New Record with Tax Contributions Reaching K43 Billion

Tax payments from the mining sector rose by 11 percent to K43.3 billion in 2022, according to the latest independently audited report from the Zambia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (ZEITI).

The report showed that total revenues received by government from the mining sector rose to more than K43.3 billion in 2022, a significant increase on the K39 billion received in 2021.

With top contributing mines being Kansanshi Mining with contributions of K15 billion, FQM Trident making contributions of K8.6 billion and Lumwana Mine making contributions of K4 billion.

The overall increase in year-on-year revenue is despite lower overall copper production for the year, as well as lower copper prices.

According to Ian Mwiinga, Head of the ZEITI Secretariat, 2022 was another record-breaking year, both for mining revenue collections and for ZEITI itself.

“The reconciliation differences – the discrepancies between what is paid by mining companies and reported as received by government agencies – are now at an all-time low.

This is great news for the good governance of our mineral resources sector, and proves the worth of the ZEITI initiative in continuously improving the standard of reporting within mining companies and government agencies, so that the general public can have an accurate picture of the annual mineral revenues received by the State,” he said.

“The great utility of ZEITI’s annual reports is that they are an independently verified set of facts that gives the public a transparent view of mining taxation –what has been paid on the one side, and received on the other – and provides reassurance that the nation is recouping a very substantial return from the mining of its national resources.

The next step is ensuring transparency and accountability for how the revenues collected from the mining industry are spent.”

Mr Mwiinga was speaking at the launch of the 2022 annual report on tax payments this week in Solwezi attended by representatives from government, the private sector and civil society , who gathered to understand the level of the contributions made by the mining sector.

ZEITI is the Zambian chapter of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the global standard for the good governance of oil, gas and mineral resources.

It is an independent body, unconnected to either government or industry, that publishes an annual report, publicly available through its website documenting all payments made by mining companies, and revenues received by the government.

Importantly, the EITI conducts a reconciliation between the amounts paid by companies and the amounts received by government entities, so that any discrepancy can be revealed.

Zambia joined the EITI in 2009, and annual reconciliation reports have been available to the public from 2008.