Mercuria Partners with Zambian Government's Industrial Development Corporation to launch a Metals Trading Company
LUSAKA, Zambia, Dec. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercuria is pleased to announce its joint venture (JV) partnership with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), wholly owned by the Zambian Government and established to spearhead the government's investment and economic development agenda, to establish a metals trading company with Industrial Resources Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of IDC. This strategic initiative will enable Zambia to participate directly in the trading of its mineral resources, maximizing the value derived from the country's natural wealth.
The creation of this joint venture, underscores the Zambian government's intention to strengthen its position within the global commodities trading market.
Strengthening Zambia's Resource Trading Capacity
The JV represents a bold step in Zambia's resource governance strategy as it seeks to capture greater value from its mineral wealth. Mercuria will leverage its financial, commercial, and technical expertise to assist Zambia in:
- Developing independent institutional marketing and trading capacity for its copper resources.
- Developing a local pipeline of metals trading and human capital development via knowledge and skills transfer.
- Enhancing transparency and efficiency in mineral trading.
- Expanding Zambia's participation in global commodity markets.
Promoting Global Collaboration
"Our joint venture with IDC marks a significant milestone for Zambia as it positions itself more strategically in the global minerals market," said Kostas Bintas, Mercuria's Global Head of Metals and Minerals. "This initiative is purely focused on metals trading and underscores our commitment to fostering long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships."
"This partnership envisages the establishment of a vehicle to market and trade Zambian copper by mutual leverage between the Industrial Resources Limited and Mercuria to position Zambia as a key player in international markets. Further, the partnership will foster local capacity building by training Zambians in global commodity trading, risk management, and financial operations," said Mr. Cornwell Muleya, the IDC Chief Executive Officer.
About Mercuria
Established in 2004, Mercuria is one of the world's largest independent energy and commodity groups, bringing efficiency to the commodity value chain with technology, expertise, and low-carbon solutions. The company established itself as a leader in the energy transition by pledging more than 50 percent of new investments toward renewables and transitional energy. The Group has made significant investments in projects such as renewable power, energy storage, grid optimization, critical transition minerals recycling, and environmental products.
About Industrial Development Corporation
The IDC is a state-owned enterprise whose main objectives are to stimulate investments, job creation and spearhead the industrialisation process in the country across various sectors in the industry such as agriculture, forestry, tourism, manufacturing, mining, infrastructure, and financial services. One of the major roles of the IDC is to identify greenfield projects that would create new avenues for direct and indirect employment and partnerships across various parts of the country.
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SOURCE Mercuria