Zambia - What Would it Take for Zambia’s Copper Mining Industry to Achieve Its Potential?

This report is part of a series produced
by the World Bank's Africa Finance and Private Sector
Development Unit (AFTFP). This report explores the potential
contribution that the copper mining industry could make to
jobs and prosperity in Zambia, and what it will take to
achieve this potential. Copper has for many years played an
important role in Zambia's economy, and the performance
of the economy has followed the fortunes of copper mining
closely. This report investigates the role copper mining
could play in achieving the government's objectives of
increasing economic growth and jobs in the future. Although
40 percent of the country has not been geologically
surveyed, Zambia is recognized by the international mining
industry as having good mineral potential. Zambia possesses
6 percent of known world copper reserves. According to the
highly-respected Fraser Institute survey of mining and
exploration companies, Zambia ranks 26th out of 79
jurisdictions worldwide for mineral potential. In Africa,
only the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burkina Faso
have appreciably higher mineral potential scores.