Six weeks after mining giant Anglo American said it was pulling out of Zambia's copper mining industry, the government insists the business will rapidly return to the private sector.

Anglo bought the country's copper mines in 1999 for a knock-down price, having lost much of them to nationalisation when Zambia's export mainstay was taken into public ownership in 1982.

Now the government is having to take up the reins again, as the persistent slide in copper prices has persuaded Anglo that it can no longer turn a sufficient profit in Zambia.

But according to the finance minister, the move back into public hands is temporary.

"Should it become necessary, the government will take over and run KCM," Emmanuel Kasonde told Reuters news agency.

"This will be an interim solution until private sector players are found," a decision which could come as early as April, the time at which Anglo will cease to invest in Zambia.

Public, private, public

KCM is Konkola Copper Mines, of which the Anglo-controlled Zambia Copper Investments owns 65%. The operation accounts for two thirds of copper production.

Since closure - with the 10,000 job losses and collapse in export earnings that would entail - is not an option, the government will have to keep the mine going till a buyer can be found, analysts say.

Mr Kasonde last week unveiled a budget designed to cut the deficit which put no extra money aside for KCM - although it did extend to small miners the kind of tax concessions already available to big operators like KCM.

These concessions were the source of some anger among opponents of the way the privatisation was managed.

Sell off

Zambia's huge debts meant it had to expedite the copper sell off if it was to continue getting money from the International Monetary Fund.

Copper constitutes as much as 90% of Zambia's exports, meaning that the slumping price has hit the country hard.

Rampant corruption over the past two decades has not helped either.

But in any case, keeping the mines in private hands is in the interests both of the government - whose vast debts were partly the result of mismanagement in running the mines - and of the donor agencies and countries who pushed for privatisation in the first place.

It remains unclear how the mines will keep running, or who might be in line to take over from Anglo - although analysts say the odds are that the next incumbent will be in line for a sweetheart deal at least as good as that demanded by Anglo.