The state mining investment company has taken its plan to formalise Zambia's gold trade to investors in London. Zambia Monitor reports that Phesto Musonda, board chairperson of ZCCM Investments Holdings Plc, told a panel on gold, sovereignty and stability at the Financial Times Africa Summit that the Government has mandated ZCCM-IH to lead the formalisation effort, and that its subsidiary Kyalo Goldfields will buy gold from licensed small-scale miners, pay them in kwacha and supply the metal to the Bank of Zambia to build national reserves. The remarks were released in a company statement on Thursday 22 October.
We are building a traceable chain, from the pit to the vault.
— Phesto Musonda, board chairperson of ZCCM Investments Holdings, at the Financial Times Africa Summit in London, as reported by Zambia Monitor on Thursday 22 October
Mr Musonda's case rests on a gap in the numbers. According to Zambia Monitor he said the United Arab Emirates recorded nearly US$1.8 billion of gold imports from Zambia in 2023, while Zambia's formal gold output "last year" was about 127,000 ounces. He said lifting formal output to several hundred thousand ounces a year was achievable and that a traceable supply chain would improve confidence among international buyers and keep more of the metal's value in the country.
Where the US$1.8 billion figure comes from
Africa Briefing examined the same discrepancy in September. Citing the World Bank's World Integrated Trade Solution database for 2023, it reported that the UAE recorded imports of about 29.1 tonnes of non-monetary unwrought gold from Zambia worth about US$1.788 billion, while Zambia reported exports of the same product to the UAE of just US$61,800; Hong Kong recorded a further 2.03 tonnes worth US$107.6 million. Bank of Zambia figures cited in the same article put total declared gold export earnings at US$127.5 million in 2023, US$261.6 million in 2024 and US$345.6 million in 2025. Africa Briefing cautioned that mirror-trade gaps can arise from differences in valuation, timing and transit routes and do not by themselves prove smuggling, and it quoted ZCCM-IH chief executive Kakenenwa Muyangwa telling Bloomberg that formalisation could unlock more than US$1.8 billion.
The mandate is not new: Africa Briefing reports that the Government handed ZCCM-IH the lead on formalising, developing and transforming the gold sector in August 2025, and that Kyalo Goldfields was incorporated in May 2026 with partners to advance the Kikonge gold project in Mufumbwe District, North-Western Province. Ghana's Gold Board, whose artisanal and small-scale exports rose to about 103 tonnes in 2025, is the reference point in that report, which notes that Ghana's President John Mahama cited its results in an address to Zambia's Parliament.
What neither report yet contains is the operating detail: the prices Kyalo will pay, the volumes it expects, when buying starts, how many licensed small-scale miners are in the scheme, or any statement from the Bank of Zambia itself on taking the metal into reserves. Mr Musonda told the London audience, according to Zambia Monitor, that ZCCM-IH wanted to be the state's partner of choice for responsible mining and energy investment under what he called the Grow Zambia Agenda.
Sources: Zambia Monitor, “Zambia's $1.8 billion gold export gap exposed as ZCCM-IH moves to formalise trade” (22 Oct 2026); Africa Briefing, “Zambia eyes $1.8bn gold formalisation push” (2 Sep 2026).