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Under the Mines and Minerals Development Act, there is a strict requirement that a person shall not explore for minerals or carry on mining operations, mineral processing operations or gold panning, except under the authority of a mining right, mineral processing licence, or gold panning certificate granted under the Act. In addition, written approval by the Environmental Management Agency of the environmental impact assessment is required.

In 2010, First Quantum Limited acquired the Sentinel copper deposit project, located in the North-Western Province of Zambia. It is part of the Trident project, which comprises five prospecting licences totalling 2,300 square kilometres. First Quantum received large-scale mining licences for the development of the Trident project in 2011. The licences give the company the exclusive rights to carry out mining operations on the full area of interest at Trident for a period of 25 years. The environmental impact assessment was approved and a land use agreement was established in July 2011 for the development of the Sentinel deposit. (...)

(...) In 2014, the ERB (Electricity Regulation Board) issued a total of 12 licences in the electricity sub-sector (two for generation, two for distribution and eight for manufacturing, supply, installation and maintenance of solar energy systems). (...)

ZESCO (Zambia Electricity Supply Company) produces its power from three main hydropower plants: Kariba North Bank, Kafue Gorge and Victoria Falls power stations. In addition, the company generates limited amounts of power from its four mini hydropower stations located in the northern part of Zambia and ten isolated diesel stations in some remote parts of the country that are not yet connected to the grid.

Zambia's main source of energy is hydro generation, which accounts for more than 95% of the total electricity production. Other electricity sources include diesel, thermal, solar, and heavy fuel oil (HFO). In 2014, the total installed capacity in Zambia was 2,396 MW disaggregated as follows: 2,255 MW for hydro; 80 MW for thermal; 11 MW for diesel; 50 MW for HFO; and 0.06 MW for solar.

Zambia's key tourism assets include pristine national parks and game management areas, waterfalls, lakes and rivers holding about 35% of Southern Africa's total natural water resources, and "wildlife protected areas" occupying about 10% of the country's total land area. (...)

The Ministry of Tourism and Arts (MTA) oversees all portfolio functions and operations of the country's tourism and cultural sector, including accommodation, arts and culture centres, culture industries, casinos, national parks and wildlife, safari operations, travel agencies, and tourism policy. Several other institutions operate in the sub-sector, under the supervision of the MTA. These include the Department of National Parks and Wildlife, the Zambia Tourism Agency, the National Arts Council, and the Hotel and Tourism Training Institute.

Tourism operators must be licensed by the Zambia Tourism Agency. Other authorities may also issue licences in certain instances; for example, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife may issue licences to safari hunting companies. (...)

Table A3.3 List of priority sectors
Sectors Details
Energy and water development
Fuel Building and installation of processing and refinery plants for bio-fuel
(...)
Water supply Construction of water and sewage treatment plants

Context:
3.88. The ZDA (Zambia Development Agency) may recommend to the Ministry of Finance incentives to investors who invest not less than US$500,000 in an MFEZ (multi-facility economic zone), an industrial park, a priority sector, or a rural enterprise (Table 3.14). Priority sectors are those outlined in the second schedule of the ZDA Act (Table A3.3).

Under the 2006 Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) Act, a foreign investor is granted an investment licence under the condition that the investment will have developmental benefits and not harm the environment.