Zambia Pioneers Mining ‘G-Factor’ to Expose Companies Ripping Off Citizens

By Linda Soko Tembo

Zambia is moving towards introducing a radical transparency policy to identify which mining companies are “ripping off” citizens.

Known as the G-factor, the measure would force extractive industry firms to disclose the total taxes they pay as a proportion of the revenue they make.

The resulting percentage would allow policymakers and the public to compare mining firms’ contributions to the country.

The metric was initially promoted by Gemfields, the company which owns Kagem – the country’s biggest emerald mine. 

Now the concept is now being adopted and adapted by the Zambia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (ZEITI) as part of its broader efforts to enhance transparency.

The Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development (MMMD) is also backing the initiative. In an interview with MakanDay, the MMMD Permanent Secretary, Dr. Hapenga Kabeta, confirmed that while the G-Factor is still voluntary, there is growing pressure on companies to participate or risk being labelled poor corporate citizens.

“It’s a good initiative. Initially, some companies were hesitant, but more are coming on board. People always say they don’t benefit from mining, but once the G-Factor is made public, they can see for themselves which companies are giving back and which ones are ripping them off,” he said.

Kabeta explained that the Ministry is working towards making G-Factor assessments mandatory for all mining companies operating in Zambia, adding that for now, the tool serves as a “name and shame” mechanism, incentivising companies to disclose their contributions or risk public backlash.

In an interview with Finance Uncovered – MakanDay’s UK journalism partner, Ian Mwiinga, National Coordinator and Head of the ZEITI Secretariat, described the tool as a “simple but powerful” way to measure mining companies’ contributions.

“The concept didn’t come from ZEITI. It was actually promoted by Gemfields, and we adopted it into our EITI reporting because it provides an easy, one-pager snapshot of what a company is contributing, far more digestible than the 300-page reports we usually publish,” Mwiinga said.

He explained that the G-Factor provides a three-tiered view of a company’s contributions, including payments to local authorities and corporate social investments (both in-kind and cash) at the community level, taxes and levies paid to the national treasury, and the value retained by the company itself.

Mwiinga added that this framework enables communities, policymakers, and civil society to assess which companies are genuinely adding value and which are not pulling their weight.

“Zambia has gone a step further by introducing a localised version, G-Factor Z, giving the tool a Zambian face. With the G-Factor Z, we add up all the payments made in a fiscal year by tax type or revenue stream and divide that by the total revenue to give a percentage. This allows comparison between different mining operations in the same region or sector,” said Mwiinga.

He said that this transparency is particularly crucial in a country where many citizens feel they have not reaped the benefits of the vast mineral wealth beneath their feet.

Mwiinga said that for years, communities living near mines have raised concerns about environmental degradation, displacement, and lack of infrastructure, with little visible return on the extraction happening around them.

Gemfields Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sean Gilbertson reinforced this view, stating that mining companies are merely service providers managing resources that belong to the people.

“If we do our job well and make a profit, we have earned it. But we must remember these resources don’t belong to us or even the government alone. We are co-custodians. That’s why we pioneered the G-Factor. It’s meant to be a simple scorecard for how well a mining company converts national resources into national benefit,” he said.

Gilbertson praised Zambia’s commitment to publishing G-Factor data publicly and commended ZEITI’s efforts.

“ZEITI worked hard to secure the publication of the G-Factor for several mining companies and is now making this data publicly available through its online portal. To the best of our knowledge, Zambia is the first African country to implement this initiative,” he said.

Transparency advocates believe that once widely adopted, the G-Factor could help reshape public discourse around mining in Zambia. Communities will no longer be left in the dark. Instead, they will have access to simple data showing where the money goes and who’s giving back.

For now, all eyes are on ZEITI and the mining companies. Will they embrace this pioneering transparency tool? And will the Zambian government follow through with making it mandatory?

If so, Zambia could become a model not only for the region but for all resource-rich nations seeking to turn extraction into equitable development.

This article was developed with Finance Uncovered, a UK based journalism organisation