• The sector has long been plagued by a lack of transparency.
• Mining companies must voluntarily disclose their beneficial ownership information.
• Increased transparency in the mining sector will benefit all Zambians by promoting good governance and preventing corruption.

Centre for Trade Policy Development (CTPD) has called on government and mining companies to enhance transparency in the mining sector by increasing beneficial ownership disclosure.
Centre Legal Researcher Luyando Muloshi told Money FM News that despite the Mining sector contributing significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and providing employment to thousands of Zambians, it has long been plagued by a lack of transparency, with ownership structures often kept secret.
Ms. Muloshi stated that this lack of transparency can lead to corruption, tax evasion, money laundering, and misappropriation of resources.
She further called on mining companies to voluntarily disclose their beneficial ownership information and work with civil society to promote transparency in the sector.
Ms. Muloshi observed that increased transparency in the mining sector will benefit all Zambians by promoting good governance, preventing corruption, enhancing domestic resource mobilization and ensuring that the country’s natural resources are used to drive sustainable development.
“In recent years, there has been a growing global consensus that transparency in the mining sector is essential for promoting good governance and ensuring that citizens benefit from their country’s natural resources,” Ms. Muloshi stated.
She added that while Zambia through the Companies Act of 2017 introduced provisions requiring companies to disclose their beneficial owners, the Centre believes that more legislative reform needs to be done to ensure that the mining sector operates in a transparent and accountable manner.
Ms. Muloshi also urged government to go further and make beneficial ownership disclosure mandatory for all companies operating in the mining sector, and to impose harsh penalties for failure to do so.
“This would include revising the Mines and Mineral Development Act, the “Mines Act” to include an obligation requiring mining companies to disclose information about the individuals who own, control or benefit from their operations in Zambia to the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) and to provide evidence of such compliance. Compliance can further be enhanced by including in the Mines Act a requirement to disclose beneficial ownership at license application stage, renewal stage, transfer stage and at any point where beneficial ownership information changes.”
“By requiring mining companies to disclose their beneficial owners, the government will be increasing transparency in the sector and making it more difficult for individuals to hide their ownership interests in mining companies,” she noted.