Zambia said it will not reintroduce the windfall tax on copper producers that was brought in last year despite a rally in metal prices, Reuters reports.

Zambia introduced a 25% windfall tax and other taxes when copper prices increased in 2008 but removed it in January as prices fell.

Mines and minerals development minister Maxwell Mwale said government policies will not be determined by short-term fluctuations.

“We realised that windfall tax was an addition to the cost of production and that it was discouraging investment,” Mwale told Reuters.

Mwale said that a number of the 12,000 workers who lost their jobs last year may be re-employed once production increased at mine sites.