MOPANI Copper Mines, the Zambian unit of Abu Dhabi-based International Resources Holding, will not export copper concentrate despite receiving the largest single allocation under a government waiver issued this week, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.
Zambia’s government on June 2 suspended a 10% export duty on nearly 272,000 tons of copper concentrate, permitting shipments through state-owned Industrial Resources Ltd — which has a metals-trading partnership with Mercuria Energy Group — over the following three months. Of that total, Mopani was allocated 100,000 tons. The balance was divided between Barrick Mining and First Quantum Minerals.
Mopani said its position is unchanged from July last year, when the first such exemptions were announced and it similarly declined to use its allocation, the newswire reported. The company intends to channel all available concentrate through its own smelter as part of a long-term strategy to build domestic refining capacity, Bloomberg added.
The export duty exists to keep concentrate flowing to Zambia’s four operating copper smelters. Waivers are granted when smelting capacity becomes constrained. Konkola Copper Mines said on May 29 that its smelter had begun a planned 60-day maintenance shutdown, tightening available processing capacity.
This is the third consecutive allocation of 100,000 tons awarded to Mopani, following similar waivers last July and in March.
IRH, which is part of a conglomerate controlled by UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Ali Nahyan, acquired a 51% stake in Mopani in early 2024.
