{"id":32138,"date":"2026-04-16T14:07:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T12:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=32138"},"modified":"2026-04-16T14:08:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T12:08:00","slug":"india-zambia-talks-on-critical-minerals-stall-over-mining-rights","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/india-zambia-talks-on-critical-minerals-stall-over-mining-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;India-Zambia talks on critical minerals stall over mining rights&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>India&#8217;s talks with Zambia over critical minerals mining have stalled amid a lack of assurances from Lusaka on \u200bmining rights, two sources familiar with the matter told <em>Reuters.<\/em><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>India last \u200cyear received an allocation of 9 000 square km (3 474.92 square miles) to explore cobalt, a key component in batteries for electric vehicles and mobile phones, as well as copper, \u200bwidely used in power generation, electronics and construction.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>India dispatched a team of \u200bgeologists last year, who have since returned with samples of \u2060minerals, including cobalt and copper.<\/div>\n<div>The exploration programme in Zambia was set to \u200brun for three years, after which New Delhi had planned to invite \u200bprivate sector companies to participate, subject to securing mining rights.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It was not immediately clear why Zambia was withholding assurances for mining rights.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>New Delhi is making efforts to restart \u200bdiscussions with Zambia, but the situation is still uncertain, one of the \u200bsources said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They declined to be identified as the discussions are not public. India&#8217;s federal \u200cMinistry \u2060of Mines did not respond to a Reuters\u00a0request for comment.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>India has been in talks with several African countries to acquire critical mineral blocks on a government-to-government basis, while also exploring opportunities in Australia and Latin America.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The Indian \u200bgovernment last year \u200bheld internal discussions over \u2060the country&#8217;s growing vulnerability to a tightening global copper market and ways to secure supplies from resource-rich countries \u200bduring ongoing trade negotiations.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>India&#8217;s copper imports have risen sharply \u200bsince the \u20602018 closure of Vedanta&#8217;s Sterlite Copper smelter. The country imported 1.2 million metric tons of copper in the fiscal year ending March 2025, up 4% \u2060from the \u200bprevious year.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>India is almost entirely dependent on \u200bcobalt imports, with shipments of cobalt oxide rising 20% in 2024-25 to 693 metric tons, \u200bgovernment data showed.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13986,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[],"class_list":["post-32138","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"India dispatched a team of \u200bgeologists last year, who have since returned with samples of \u2060minerals.","published_date":"","news_description":"India dispatched a team of \u200bgeologists last year, who have since returned with samples of \u2060minerals.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32139,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32138\/revisions\/32139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=32138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}