Hichilema opens Mining Insaka and tells miners to buy local

President Hakainde Hichilema on Monday urged mining companies to give priority to local suppliers and local processing as he opened the Third Zambia Mining and Investment Insaka (ZAMII) in Lusaka. Speaking under the theme "Transforming Africa's Mining Landscape: Regional Value Chains, Shared Prosperity and Empowering Communities", Mr Hichilema said African countries must move beyond exporting raw minerals and build local manufacturing, mineral processing and jobs. He asked mining firms to support the local supplier development programme, and said the benefits for host communities should go beyond corporate social responsibility to include jobs, skills, technology transfer and business opportunities. The President said the government plans skills training centres in all 116 districts, and that it has invested nearly US$100 million in a high-resolution geophysical survey of the country's 752,000 square kilometres, which is nearing completion. Zambia must expand mineral exploration, he said, if it is to reach its target of three million tonnes of copper a year by 2031. He also called for cooperation with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Botswana on regional value chains, including energy, electric vehicles and batteries, and urged government institutions to make regulatory processes more efficient and mining companies to follow environmental rules. Botswana's President Duma Boko, in a message read by Minerals and Energy Minister Bogolo Kenewendo, proposed a regional mining equipment manufacturing hub. DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, through Mines Minister Louis Kabamba, called for minerals to be processed in the region rather than exported unprocessed. The five-day event runs until 23 October at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre and was expected to draw more than 1,500 participants. Earlier on Monday, a CEO round table chaired by Mines Permanent Secretary Dr Hapenga Kabeta brought together ZCCM Investments Holdings, Konkola Copper Mines, African G