Paper short abstract:

This paper, interrogates how investors have succeeded in preventing any fair distribution of the economic benefits of copper to Zambians. It highlights what Zambia can do in order for the mines to be more beneficial to the Citizens with emphasis on Management Buyout as a more viable option.

Paper long abstract:

Zambia has a long history of mining and a rich resource base of copper, emeralds, and other deposits. In fact, the sector has over the years been Zambia's major productive industry. The importance of the sector is confirmed by the fact that in 2017, mining alone constituted 47% of exports, 18% of Government Revenue, 10% of GDP and 0.8% of Direct Employment. Despite this situation, the yields from the mining activity don't benefit Zambia as was the case in the past. Government has made various attempts to introduce measures aimed at making mining to become more beneficial to Zambia. Unfortunately, these attempts have not yielded the desired results. In a documentary by Alice Odiot and Audrey Gallet produced in 2009, titled Zambia; Good Copper Bad, Cooper, it was reported that one of the reasons that Zambia is not developed is that its minerals have historically been exploited to benefit western countries. As such, even after attaining political independence, Zambia's minerals are continuously exploited to an extent that mine owners always find a way of evading and avoiding tax. This paper, therefore, attempts to explore how best Zambia can benefit from mining operations taking a leap on how Copperbelt Energy Cooperation is managed to benefit Zambia, having also been in government hands as a power division of ZCCM, which, instead of being sold to foreign investors, government applied the Management Buyout method. The company is 77% owned former employees and is one of the most profitable companies in the country.