The International Resources Holding (IRH) has suspended its offer to purchase a portion of Vedanta Resources Ltd.’s copper mines in Zambia on Wednesday.

The United Arab Emirates-based firm cited the breakdown of negotiations over the assets’ valuation.

In April, IRH, a division of the International Holding firm of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the richest firm in the emirate, made a bid to purchase a 51% share in Vedanta’s Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) for more than $1 billion.

After acquiring a 51% share in Mopani Copper Mines in a deal that was finalized in March, it had desired the mines to strengthen its copper presence in Zambia.

IRH, however, stated to Reuters that it was “not currently pursuing the acquisition of a majority stake in the Zambian assets.”

“IRH terminated the transaction discussions two months ago due to discrepancies in valuation,” it added in an emailed statement.

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, a larger regional oil giant, are attempting to take part in the shift to renewable energy by securing essential metal supplies from Africa. Vedanta owns 80% of KCM, with the remaining shares held by the Zambian government via the state company ZCCM-IH.

Vedanta Base Metals CEO Chris Griffith revealed to Reuters in June that IRH was one of the investors completing due diligence on the Zambian assets. A person familiar with the situation told Reuters that although IRH was willing to pay nearly twice as much for a larger shareholding,

Vedanta was only willing to sell a minority equity investment of roughly 30%. IRH had offered roughly $1 billion for a 51% stake in KCM. Since they were not authorized to talk in public on the matter, the source chose not to give their name.

After a five-year struggle to reclaim the copper mines and smelter that the former Zambian president Edgar Lungu’s administration had taken control of, Vedanta, owned by Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, finally took back control of KCM late last year. The government had accused the company of neglecting to invest in increasing copper production.

In an attempt to raise the roughly $1.2 billion needed to pay off debts, resurrect operations, and advance the Konkola Deep Mining Project—which is home to one of the world’s richest copper deposits—the miner has been attempting to sell a portion of its ownership in the Zambian copper mines.

“Vedanta remains committed to exploring all funding options – both debt and equity – which are aligned with what we believe is in the best interests of KCM,” a spokesperson said via email.
The spokesperson declined to comment on “any ongoing discussions or negotiations” with potential partners.

According to UNICEF, the three million children living in the Central African Republic are among the most disadvantaged in the world. The nation is very vulnerable to a humanitarian crisis due to widespread malnutrition, limited access to healthcare, and insecurity.

According to the UN Children’s Agency, about 40% of the nation’s children suffer from chronic malnutrition and half of them lack access to health care. Few people have access to hygienic food, clean water, or both.

The situation of the children in the African nation has become “painfully invisible” due to the attention that the war in Gaza and other crises have garnered worldwide, UNICEF representative Meritxell Relano Arana told reporters in Geneva.

“The three million girls and boys of the Central Africa Republic face the highest registered level of overlapping and interconnected crises and deprivation in the world,” she said.

Following a peace agreement reached in February 2019 between the government and fourteen armed groups, violence in the Central African Republic (CAR), one of the world’s poorest nations, decreased.

However, the situation is still unstable because large areas of the country are still uncontrolled.

With nearly 7 out of 10 people living on less than $2.15 per day, the international poverty limit for extreme poverty, the CAR has one of the highest rates of poverty in the world. Even if they spend their whole household budget on food, more than half of them are food impoverished, meaning they cannot buy enough food.