Zambia has started looking for a new investor in Vedanta-controlled Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), Zambia's President Edgar Lungu said on state radio on Monday.
"We are not shaken in our resolve to divorce, starting with KCM, and we have filed that notification," Lungu said on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation radio, adding that he would brief the cabinet on the decision later on Monday.
London-listed Vedanta said in a statement that it was seeking an urgent meeting with Lungu over the future of KCM and that it had not received formal communication from the government on KCM.
(By Chris Mfula, Barbara Lewis, Alexander Winning and Louise Heavens)