Country case study discussion: ZAMBIA, remarks by Dr. Pius C. Kasolo, Chief Executive Officer, ZCCM IH, at the African Mining Indaba 2016, Capetown, South Africa, on 10 February 2016

• The Honorable Minister of Mines and Minerals Development in Zambia, Mr Christopher Yaluma
• Your Excellency Mr Emmanuel Mwamba, Zambia’s High Commissioner to South Africa
• The Mines Deputy Minister, Mr. Richard Musukwa
• The Finance Deputy Minister, Mr. Christopher Mvunga
• The Chief Executive Officer, Vedanta Resources PLC, Mr Tom Albanese
• The Chief Executive Officer, Gemfields Plc
• Senior officials from the Ministry of Mines
• Distinguished invited guests, ladies and gentlemen

Thank you for taking time to come and be part of this discussion.

The Honourable Minister of Mines and minerals development, Mr Yaluma has spoken at length on what the Zambian government is doing to ensure the growth of a vibrant and sustainable mining industry beyond the cycles in Zambia.

The call to investing beyond mining cycles has been the main thread running through most of the discourses here at the Indaba.

ZCCM-IH has a portfolio of 16 Companies; our exposure to mining forms about 80% to 90% of our portfolio.

Going forward, ZCCM Investments Holdings’ strategy is to diversify our investments into other sectors of the economy like Agriculture, Energy and Manufacturing.

Before I say much on this, let me just play a clip about ZCCM investments holdings.

(CLIP Duration 3 Minutes 11 Seconds)
You notice from the video that ZCCM-IH is an Investment holding Company and not a mining company. Most people still call us “Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines limited”, and that is why we are trying to raise awareness on our rebrand as an investment holdings company.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We feel ZCCM-IH occupies a very unique and strategically advantageous position as Zambia’s biggest investments holding company, as it holds interests across the mining industry in Zambia.

In as much as this exposes us to the cyclical nature of the extractive industry, particularly copper mining, as ZCCM-IH we remain confident about the fundamentals of the mining industry in general and those of copper in particular.

The cyclical nature of the commodities sector will reward those who are well positioned and ZCCM-IH is uniquely well positioned.

Added to this, we want to continue maximizing shareholder value, which underpins ZCCM IH operations.

Hence, we will continue to grow our portfolio beyond mining and will further increase our foothold in the energy, manufacturing, agriculture and real estate sectors.

The Company has identified value-adding projects in these sectors and will seek strategic partners to bring these projects to fruition.

Come and be part of the journey to success.

Thank you.