The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition Zambian President Edgar Lungu has told his finance and mining ministers to change by April 8 a new tax system that companies have said would lead them to shut mines. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post says Mr. Lungu asked his ministers to consider options to resolve the impasse. These include negotiating interim tax deals with the individual mines most affected, modifying existing laws, deferring the new regime or temporarily reverting to the old mine tax as a new one is negotiated. "Dialogue between my government and the mines shall continue," said Mr. Lungu by e-mail Wednesday. He was elected in January. Mr. Lungu did not say when any changes would come into effect. Under a law passed in January, royalties more than tripled to 20 per cent for some mines, threatening 12,000 jobs. Barrick Gold said in December it would put its Lumwana mine under care and maintenance, where operations are halted for potential restart later, as a result of lower copper prices and the new system that replaces income tax with higher royalties for mines. "It's a positive development that some action has taken place," said Jackson Sikamo, president of the Zambia Chamber of Mines.