Zambia to See 15-percent Fall in Copper Output in 2015

Reuters reported that according to a government official, Zambia should produce 600,000 tonnes of copper in 2015. That would be a 15-percent fall from the 2014 total.
As quoted in the market news:

The Zambia Chamber of Mines said the current state of the mining sector Zambia was grave and called for urgent attention to sustain existing operations and avert a continuation of the current spate of suspensions and loss of jobs.
“The Chamber views the focus on mining in the recently announced 2016 national budget as generally inadequate and at odds with the need to apply urgent and decisive restorative measures to the industry,” the chamber said in a statement.
“The mining industry is faced with a global downturn that draws ominous parallels with the trend last seen in 2008, when prices of commodities on the international markets experienced a severe downturn.”

Click here to read the full Reuters report.