The state-run ZANIS news agency quoted Banda to have said: "The medium-term and long-term loans would be provided to private companies operating in Zambia under an agreement signed between the ministry of mines and the China Development Bank".
Zambian private sector should work with their Chinese counterparts in order to access resources from the $5 billion funding, according to Banda’s statement at a signing ceremony for the lending facility in Livingstone, about
He said a number of Chinese companies already operating in the southern African country such as China’s Non-Ferrous Metals Mining Corp. (CNMC) had previously secured financing from the China Development Bank for investments in the country.
The Chinese government will provide equity amounting to $1 billion to Zambia to help build a key power plant that would boost the country’s electricity output by 600 mega when completed in late 2016.
Equinox Minerals, Glencore International AG of Switzerland and Metorex of South Africa, London-listed Vedanta Resources Plcare are some of the foreign mining companies operating in Zambia in addition to Canada’s First Quantum Minerals.
Source: Africa News