Zambia’s ZCCM says CopperTech IPO could speed up $2.7B expansion project

Zambia’s ZCCM Investment Holdings said on Friday that Vedanta’s planned IPO of its copper unit could speed up their jointly owned company’s $2.7 billion expansion project.

Vedanta is preparing the US listing of CopperTech Metals, a US-domiciled integrated copper and cobalt producer, which will operate its 79%-owned Konkola Copper Mines in Zambia’s Copperbelt province. ZCCM owns the balance of the shareholding.

Zambia, Africa’s No.2 copper producer, plans to raise output to 3 million metric tons by 2031, from 890,346 tons last year, as it seeks to capitalize on rising copper demand, driven by the global shift to renewable energy.

Vedanta regained control of Konkola in 2023, after the asset was seized by Zambia’s previous administration of former president Edgar Lungu in 2019.

The company’s Konkola Deep Mine Programme (KDMP) project seeks to raise Konkola’s copper output to 300,000 tons by 2031, from 80,215 tons last year.

ZCCM board chairman Phesto Musonda told investors that a listing should cut the project’s ramp-up time by three years.

“The commitment by Vedanta was that they would spend $1.1 billion on the KDMP in the next five years, but with the listing now, we have adjusted the timeline,” Musonda said during ZCCM’s capital markets day hosted in Paris.

“We are saying, this cash is available now, the investment we have brought it to 2028. We’re going to have the KDMP development way before the five years,” he added.

Vedanta did not respond to a request for comment.

The expansion project includes one of Zambia’s deepest shafts, reaching 1,500 metres, to access high-grade ores, as well as dewatering and processing infrastructure.

ZCCM, which is listed on the Lusaka, London and Euronext stock exchanges, said it was considering a stock buy-back to shore up its share price, which it says is significantly undervalued on the European bourses.

(By Nelson Banya; Editing by Alexander Smith)