Two of Zambia’s largest copper smelters and sulphuric acid producers will shut for extended maintenance later this year, two industry sources said, further squeezing copper output and supplies of the chemical used to process copper and cobalt. The Iran war has disrupted global supplies of the critical acid and other leaching chemicals, prompting mines in neighbouring Congo - the world's top cobalt and second-largest copper producer - to cut usage or consider output cuts. Copper smelters in Zambia - Africa's No.2 producer of the metal vital for clean energy technologies - generate about 2 million metric tons of ... (full story)