MINING INDUSTRY IN ZAMBIA

- Mining is the process of extracting or obtaining mineral resources from the earth’s
surface.
- Minerals that are mined include: coal, gold, diamond, copper, iron, zinc, lead,
manganese etc.
- Since, independence, the backbone of Zambia ‘s economy has been mining.
- The economy is almost entirely dependent on copper mining.
- Minerals are mined independently or as a by –product of another mineral.
- The following table shows some of the minerals mined in Zambia and where they are
mined.

Mineral Places where they are mined

Copper Mainly mined on the Copperbelt but also in the North –
Western province part of Lumwana and Kasanshi, Mkushi
in Central Province and Luapula.
Cobalt It is mined as a by- product of Copper in most copper
producing places.
Coal Maamba in Southern Province.
Uranium North western province
Manganese Luapula and Kabwe
Mica Central and Eastern Provinces
Gold Traces of Gold in Mumbwa and as a by-product of copper.
Lead/ Zinc In Kabwe, but the mine is closed, Kafue and Kasempa
Tin In Livingstone
Iron In Lusaka and Mazabuka
Nickel In Mazabuka
Petroleum Traces in North- western and Eastern provinces

- Zambia is also endowed with precious stones gemstones such as diamonds, emerald,
tourmaline, aquamarines and garnets.

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 Below is a map showing mineral occurrence in Zambia

Major minerals mined in Zambia and their uses

1. Copper
- Copper mining forms the backbone of Zambia’s economy.
- Zambia exports almost all the copper she produces.
- A lot of steps have to be taken to obtain pure copper and the following are the steps in
copper mining
1. The miners go underground to blast the rock which contains copper. This rock is
called copper ore.
2. The blasted ore is transported to the earth surface by conveyor belt.
3. The ore is taken to the crusher, which crushers the big rocks in order to reduce
them to smaller sizes.
4. The crushed rock is moved to the ball mill where water is added. The ball mill
reduces the crushed rock to fine powder (slurry).
5. The mixture then enters the floatation chamber in which a chemical called
collector is added and air is blown. In the floatation chamber, copper concentrate
at the top, while unwanted fragments sink at the bottom. The product here is
called concentrate ranges between 45% - 47% pure copper.
6. The concentrate enters a furnace where fire burns and removes mores impurities.
The process is called smelting. During smelting, waste gases are removed and the

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 materials from a molten pool of copper and iron called matte 60% copper settle
at the bottom of the furnace. The orange layer of the impure metal on top of the
matte is called slag which is drained off and taken to the slag heap.
7. The copper matte now moves to the converter. Here, air and chemicals are added
again. Air is blown through molten copper to remove iron. Blister copper 99.5 %
pure is produced.
8. From the converter, copper still contains impurities. The copper is then sent to the
anode furnace to remove iron sulphides. Green tree trunks are burnt in order to
further process the molten copper. Anode copper 99.8% pure is produced. It
contains impurities such as sulphur, selenium, silver, gold, nickel and bismuth.
The copper is then cast into molds.
9. From the molds, the copper moves to the electrolytic converter where the process
electrolysis is used to remove the rest of the impurities.
10. The product of the electrolytic converter, which is 99.9% copper is called pure
copper and is ready for use.

Uses of Copper
 It is used for making electric wires
 It is used for making water pipes
 It is used for making car radiators
 It is used for making ornamental things
 It is used for planting utensils

2. Cobalt
 Cobalt is a silvery –white magnetic metallic element used chiefly for making
alloys.
 In Zambia, cobalt is obtained as a by-product of copper smelting process.

Uses of cobalt
 It is used to make cutting tools
 It is used for making permanent magnets
 It is used in ceramics and paint driers
 It is also used as a catalyst

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3. Coal
 Coal is a combustible organic rock which is composed of carbon, hydrogen
and oxygen.
 Coal is a fossil fuel because it comes from the remains of ancient animals
and plants buried over millions of years in the earth’s crust.
 In Zambia, coal is mined in Maamba, Southern province near lake Kariba.

Uses of coal
 Coal is used in generating thermal electricity.
 Cooking and lighting
 It is used in smelting raw materials such as copper ore
 It is also used in cement production
 It is also an important source of chemicals used to make medicine, fertilisers,
pesticides and other products.

Methods of mining
- Mineral ores are mined either on the surface of the earth or underground.
- There are two methods used in mining and these are:
a. Open pit mining
- In open pit mining, the ore is removed from deposits that are covered by a shallow
overburden that is stripped before the ore is removed.
- Benches are terraced into the earth or rocks along the pit.
- The ore is usually loosed by blasting and loaded into trucks by mechanical loaders.
- As the pit increases in depth, the cost of mining by this method also increases.
- In Zambia, open pit mining is carried out at Nchanga in Chingola and Chambeshi
- It is also used to mine coal at Maamba in Southern province.
- It is cheaper as compared to the underground mining.
- It is also not as risky as underground mining.

b. Shaft /underground mining

- Is the method used when mineral ores lie deep in the earth surface.
- Deep shafts are sunk and fitted with lifts of cages to carry both workers and
machinery underground and to bring up the ore

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- The shaft is suck until the ores are reached.
- Tunnels are then made following the ore seams.
The diagram below shows Underground or shaft mining

- Most of the mining towns have shaft mines like Nkana mine in Kitwe,
Konkola mine in Chililabombwe and Mufulira Mine in Mufulira.
- Underground mining is one of the most dangerous method because of:
 Restricted space
 The force of gravity
 Underground water which has to be pumped to the surface to avoid
flooding on the tunnels.
The contributions of mining to the social- economic development of
Zambia
Mining contributes to the social – economic development in the following ways:
1. It provides employment- many people are directly employed in the mining
industries. Others are employed in industries that support the mining
industries.
2. It brings in foreign exchange- most of the copper mined in Zambia is sold
to countries such as China, Japan, Canada and the United States of America.
This earns the country foreign exchange. Zambia needs foreign exchange to
buy goods that she does not produce and also to develop infrastructures such
as roads, hospitals and schools.

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3. It provides raw materials for manufacturing industries- many industries
use copper and other minerals mined in Zambia as raw materials to
manufacture goods.
4. It leads to the establishment of other industries- new companies are
opened up to supply materials and services to the mines.
5. It leads to economic development- as jobs are created and companies are
established, the government gets more money in terms of tax. Exportation
of minerals also attract tax. Money collected from tax is used to develop
other sectors. This brings about economic development in the country.
6. Infrastructure development- when mines are opened, economic
development takes place. New roads are constructed and upgraded to
transport the minerals from the mines and materials to the mines. New
buildings are also built.
7. Provision of social amenities- economic development enables the
government to provide social amenities such as sport field, social clubs and
play parks.
The impact of mining on the environment
The following are the impact of mining on the environment.
i. Pollution; the chemicals used in the mining process often escape into the
environment causing air pollution. Land becomes unsafe for the plants and
other organisms that live in the soil find the polluted environment hostile
for their survival.
ii. Land degradation; this means loss of soil quality or its capacity to
produce. Mining activities leave pits and piles of mine dumps. Such areas
cannot be used for agriculture or any productive activity.
iii. Deforestation; mining activities lead to clearing of large areas of land
where minerals are found. Besides clearing the mining area, vegetation in
the surrounding areas also needs to be cut in order to construct roads and
residential facilities for the mine workers.
iv. Loss of biodiversity; the forests that are cleared for mining purposes are
home to many organisms. Indiscriminate clearing of the forests leads to loss
of habitat for a large number of animals. The cutting down of trees in itself
is a big threat to a number of plants, birds and animals that live in the forests

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 v. Loss of aquatic life; Release of toxic chemicals from the mines to the
nearby water bodies is harmful for the plants and animals which live in
water.
vi. Spread of diseases; sometimes, the liquid waste that is generated after the
metals or minerals have been extracted is disposed in a mining pit. As the
pit get filled up, it becomes a stagnant pool of water. This becomes a
breeding ground for insects and organisms, such as mosquitoes that spread
diseases.
vii. Displacement of humans and animals; both humans and animals are
displaced by mining activities. Air pollution is a risk to human health.
People therefore, prefer moving away from a polluted place and go to safe
places. Animals too move from polluted places to places with conducive
environment for their survival.
Recent development in the mining sector
i. There has been an increase in the mining of copper. This is due to the demand
of copper by the Chinise industries.
ii. Apart from copper, other minerals such as uranium are now being mined in
Zambia.
iii. Prospecting licenses for oil have been issued to investors and so far results
have indicated the presence of oil in North Western and Eastern provinces
of Zambia.
Problems faced by the mining industry
(i) The fluctuating copper prices at the London Metal Exchange (LMS) have
affected the mining industry in Zambia natively.
(ii) Illegal mining, especially for gemstones has robbed the country’s revenue since
these illegal miners do not pay tax.
(iii)The global economic recession which started in the United State of America
(USA) in 2008 and spread to all parts of the world affected the mining industry
negatively. Many mines closed and a lot of miners were retrenched because
mining were not making profits.