(Ecofin Agency) - Zambia tax administration declared last Wednesday that the government will not return $243 million (2.4 billion kwacha) out of 5 billion kwacha of taxes it owes mining firms operating in the country.

Kingsley Chanda (photo), head of the Zambia Revenue Authority, told Reuters that the decision is due to the fact that the concerned companies did not provide documentation they were asked.

Zambia’s government started last June, paying up to 800 million kwacha per month as reimbursement of the VAT tax it owes mining companies. The payback comes as an attempt to end an old conflict in which the miners ask for about $700 million of VAT to be returned by the State.

Zambia, Africa’s second largest copper producer, hosts mining firms such as Glencore, Barrick Gold and Vedanta Resources.

Louis-Nino Kansoun