Glencore proposes loans

Glencore Plc and Zambia’s state-owned mining company ZccM-IH could jointly lend Mopani copper Mines $200 million to help cover running costs under a proposal made by the global miner last week, a letter seen by reuters showed.

Glencore, which owned Mopani until March 2021, is prepared to lend up to $100 million as a short-term cash injection to Zambia’s Mopani copper mine, the global miner said in a September 12 “non-binding letter of intent”.

Mopani copper Mines is a large mine and smelter complex that Glencore sold to state mining investment firm ZccM-IH in 2021 after drawing the ire of the Zambian government by putting it on care and maintenance in 2020 at a time of lower copper prices.

Switzerland-based Glencore however kept the exclusive right to sell Mopani’s production when it sold its majority stake in the asset to ZccM-IH in a $1.5 billion deal funded by debt.

The more than 90-year-old mine has the potential to produce 225 000 tonnes of copper annually, nearly three times its expected 2022 production, Mopani copper Mines officials have said, but it needs investment of at least $300 million to fund a complicated underground expansion.

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