Stanbic Eyes Zambia, DRC Mining Region

Commits to driving value in mining through regional integration

Stanbic Bank Zambia recently joined Standard Bank DRC at the DRC Mining Week to reinforce and showcase Standard Bank’s positioning as the premier strategic partner for the broader mining sector.

The annual DRC Mining Week, in Lubumbashi has grown to be among Africa’s premier mining event that brings together key players in the mining, energy, infrastructure and finance sectors to shape the future of the DRC’s mining sector, as well as the rest of the continent.

Stanbic Bank Zambia’s presence at the DRC Mining Week is a reflection of its Group parent, Standard Bank’s unwavering commitment to drive sustainable growth across Africa.

‘As a Bank committed to driving Africa's growth, Stanbic was at the Mining Week to connect capital to transformative projects in energy, mining, and infrastructure especially with our clients who are on the Copperbelt and have operations across in the DRC.’

‘We are committed to providing our cross-border capabilities and unlocking sustainable value for the broader Katanga and Copperbelt region’, said Stanbic Senior Vice-President, Mining and Metals, Ms. Namakuka Sichone.

She noted that Stanbic Zambia, working closely with Standard Bank DRC is well poised to enable cross-border trade, through financing of large-scale mining operations and provision of strategic sector support to businesses shaping the mining story.  Ms Sichone also highlighted the learnings in mining between the two countries that Zambia could leverage.

‘The Mining Week offers all insights on how we can play our part on meeting the 3million tonne target in copper production.  Last year Zambia achieved a total of over 820,000 metric tonnes in copper production while the DRC’s production of the red metal already reached 3.3 million tonnes last year, up from an estimated 2.84 million tonnes in 2023’, said Ms Sichone.

Cross-border capabilities powering regional mining expansion

She stated that with a number of companies operating in Zambia attending the DRC Mining Week, it was clear that there was a lot of insights and skills transfer that we can leverage as a country.

Stanbic Bank’s cross-border capabilities, underpinned by the broader Standard Bank Group network, are uniquely positioned to support the regional growth of mining operations by providing mining sector capabilities and expertise to companies operating in both Zambia and DRC as well as the ability to connect these companies to Standard Bank DRC.  

In addition to advisory services, we also realised the importance of a cash management service in Kasumbalesa to facilitate cash collection and deposits for clients at the DRC border that can offer a convenient banking for businesses. Despite the global push for digitisation, the cash management service remains relevant for clients needing physical cash transactions.

Regional integration to scale-up private sector investments in renewables

The DRC Mining Week also noted the importance of energy in driving mining operationsthat require a consistent and substantial power supply to operate.  Ms Sichone noted that Zambia is playing a part in providing power to the mining sector in the DRC, a development that has seen Stanbic Bank ramp up its investment in the energy sector.

Ms. Sichone called for increased private sector involvement, regional integration, and diversification of energy sources, identifying banking opportunities in direct offtake deals, wheeled transactions, and power trading. Overall, addressing the growing energy deficit requires accelerated solutions supported by Government, the private sector and regional collaboration.

Ms. Sichone said: “Getting renewable energy onto the national grid is an essential way of helping to tackle the national power deficit currently engulfing most Southern African Development Community (SADC) member countries, Zambia included.

‘In recent years, we have seen private power decentralized energy playing a big role in getting renewable energy projects to the grid, and Zambia has got Open Access that allows this to happen. Thirdly, embedded power in terms of roof top solar energy is another invaluable source of renewable energy.’

She observed that increased investments in both solar and hydroelectric sources of energy would unlock further power generation to unleash Africa’s huge potential and concluded ‘Ultimately, to solve the current power challenges, private sector involvement and regional integration remain key.’ It is important that African countries also diversify the power projects coming on-stream across the region, diversification of power sources, a focus on home-grown solutions and regional access.’

‘Stanbic has taken progressive steps in collaboration with energy sector players in Zambia, namely GreenCo & Kariba North Bank Extension Power Corporation, in closing the 100MW Chisamba Solar PV Project, the largest grid-connected solar development in our country’s history. This is one shining case study example of what can be made possible with increased private-public sector collaboration,’ said Ms Sichone.

Stanbic Senior Vice-President, Mining

and Metals, Ms. Namakuka Sichone