• It will translate in estimating the true worth of Zambia’s deposits in any future transaction.
• The trend of undervaluing and overpricing of mining assets will continue without the mineral asset valuation code.
• Once the code is put in place the country will have proper guidelines on mining asset valuation.

Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD) has called on government to craft mechanisms that establish the authenticity of the deposited geological information by mining houses because it will translate in estimating the true worth of Zambia’s deposits in any future transaction.
Centre Senior Researcher for Extractives Webby Banda noted that the trend of undervaluing and overpricing of mining assets will continue in perpetuity if the country does not craft its own mineral asset valuation code.
“This does not involve reinventing the will because the Government can easily fine-tune and adopt one of the international codes and pass it into law, adding that when it is done the country will have proper guidelines on mining asset valuation,” he said.
Mr Banda said once the mineral asset valuation code is put in place the country will have proper guidelines on mining asset valuation.

“It is important to note that if the reserve-resource statement is unsound or the exploration data does not reflect the potential of the property, the resulting valuation could be meaningless,” he said.
“In other words, this means an erroneous estimate of reserves or resources as an input parameter will translate into garbage out in terms of the estimated value of the mine. Therefore, a mineral asset valuation code should be applied in tandem with a mineral reserve reporting code.”
He noted that this is a matter that the Centre has been advocating for over the recent years.
Mr Banda further said they are several purposes for undertaking mineral asset valuation and they include trading purposes of these assets in the international market place, taxation purposes; and Financing purposes.