06/08/2026
FIRST QUANTUM PARTNERS WITH LEADING FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS TO UNLOCK FINANCING FOR ZAMBIAN MINING SUPPLIERS
First Quantum Minerals Zambia has today entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with five financial institutions – Zanaco, FNB, ABSA, Stanbic and Inde Credit – to design and deliver innovative financing solutions for Zambian-owned mining service providers.
The partnership will enable Local Companies, as defined under the Geological and Minerals Development (Local Content) (Preference for Goods and Services in the Mining Sector) Regulations, S.I. No. 68 of 2025 (the “Local Content Regulations”), to access tailored products including invoice financing, order finance and industrial term loans, thereby allowing them to fully participate in opportunities created within the mining sector.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, First Quantum Minerals Country Director, Anthony Mukutuma, explained that the MOU marks the formal commencement of a partnership that the Company describes as a significant milestone in strengthening local supplier participation in the mining sector, and follow an extensive market engagement process through which the company sought financial institutions capable of developing innovative, anchor-buyer-backed financing structures for its Local Companies.
“Last year, Zambia passed the local content SI number 68, which opens up the mining value chain to Zambian local companies. When we talk about the value of the mining industry to Zambia, we normally think about jobs and taxes and royalties that the mining companies pay and the impacts that the mining companies have on the host communities, on infrastructure and all those things, which are very good things to have.
But the biggest opportunity for Zambia, the biggest opportunity for companies in Zambia is really participating in the mining value chain. Last year, as First Quantum Minerals, we put into the Zambian economy well over $2 billion in businesses that supply services and goods to our business. That's, as we see it, is a huge opportunity that exists that's open for local companies,” he said.
“And we see it as a missed opportunity for local companies. The barriers to this opportunity for local companies is mainly access to finance and also the cost of finance, which ends up making Zambian companies, local companies uncompetitive in most cases. This is the reason we are here today signing this MOU that really sets out a roadmap of how local companies can access financing that's priced competitively,” Mr Mukutuma continued.
Speaking at the same event, Zanaco Chief Executive Officer, Dr Mukwandi Chibesakunda H.C, said that the partnership the financial institution has entered with First Quantum, reflects its shared commitment to Zambia's economic transformation, private sector growth, and the creation of opportunities for more Zambian businesses to participate meaningfully in one of the country's most important sectors.
“Today's agreement is about more than financing. It is about unlocking potential, strengthening local enterprise, and ensuring that the benefits of Zambia's mineral wealth are shared more broadly across our economy. Mining remains the backbone of Zambia's economy and a key driver of national development. According to figures released by the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development, Zambia's annual copper production increased by an 8% year-on-year during the last year. This progress supports the government's ambition of increasing annual copper production to 3 million metric tonnes by the year 2031, and this underscores the sector's importance to export earnings, investment attraction, and job creation,” she said.
And Inde Credit Chief Executive Officer, Peter Bwalya, said; “We do not see ourselves as competitors to the mainstream commercial banks, but we see ourselves as complementors that feed into the value chain for greater sustainability of the local enterprises that feed into the value chain. And I think we have been speaking to SI68 for a while in ensuring that we empower local suppliers and contractors in giving them the value that they need in terms of ensuring that the bottleneck around access to finance is unlocked. We hope that and we are grateful for the opportunity to be able to collaborate with First Quantum Minerals in achieving the three million metric tonnes that the government is propagating to be able to ensure that we arrive at this, and this cannot be done without SMEs, without local enterprise in feeding into the value chain.
So, in that regard, Inde Credit intends to be able to further our support to local enterprise. We are looking to be able to capitalise even more to feed into the value chain by providing the suppliers and contractors with the adequate and relatable finance that enables them to be able to scale to the best of their abilities. With the collaboration with First Quantum Minerals, this makes it even easier from an underwriting perspective which allows us to be able to ensure that we will be able to support them in an even easier and more organised manner that allows them to be able to arrive at their full potential.”
Under the MOU, the participating institutions will work with First Quantum and the Local Companies to develop financing structures in which risk is priced against the mining firm’s own credit rating rather than the individual credit profile of each Local Company, supported by real-time digital platforms for invoice and purchase order verification. The initiative forms part of Company’s broader commitment to the industrialisation of the North-Western Province, anchored by its Kansanshi and Trident operations and the Kalumbila Multi-Facility Economic Zone.
