- Title: ZAMBIA: OLD MINES RE-OPEN TO STEP UP COPPER PRODUCTION
- Date: 20th March 1969
- Summary: ABANDONED WORKINGS; OUTCROPS OF ORE; MODERN MINE IN PRODUCTION; SMELTER; CRUSHING PLANT. Initials JDR/VS/JF/GJB Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 4th April 1969 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BWANA MKUBWA, NEAR NDOLA
- Country: Zambia
- Reuters ID: LVADXXDILO5ZE8JIMF12KLELG80F
- Story Text: AFTER 38 YEARS, WORK WILL START AGAIN ON COPPER ORE PRODUCTION AT THE BWANA MKUBWA MINE NEAR NDOLA, ZAMBIA. IT'S ONE OF THREE ABANDONED MINES BEING CONSIDERED FOR RE-OPENING. THE OTHERS ARE THE NAMPUNDWE MINE NEAR LUSAKA, AND KANSHANSI MINE IN THE NORTH-WEST PROVINCE.
THE THREE MINES HAD THEIR BEGINNINGS IN ANCIENT TIMES. NO ONE KNOWS WHEN COPPER ORE WAS FIRST TAKEN FROM THE DEPOSITS. AT BWANA MKUBWA, MODERN MINING BEGAN IN 1903 AND CONTINUED TILL 1931.
THE WORKINGS ARE ABANDONED AS UN-ECONOMICAL IN 1931 WHEN FALLING PRICES CAUSED A WORLD SLUMP IN COPPER PRODUCTION. AS WELL, THE BWANA MKUBWE ORE RAN INTO SMELTING PROBLEMS.
TODAY, IN LINE WITH THE EXPANSION OF MINING AND THE ZAMBIANISATION PROGRAMME, ALL POSSIBLE SOURCES OF COPPER ORE ARE BEING INVESTIGATED.
BWANA MKUBWE IS BEING DEVELOPED BY THE ANGLO-AMERICAN MINING CORPORATION, WHICH PRODUCES ABOUT HALF OF ZAMBIA'S COPPER. CAPITAL INVESTMENT OF 10 MILLION KWACHA WILL GO INTO REVIVING THE OLD MINE, WHICH SHOULD BE IN PRODUCTION BY THE END OF 1970.
IN 1968, ZAMBIA PRODUCED NEARLY 635,000 TONS OF COPPER, MAKING HER THE SECOND LARGEST PRODUCER IN THE WORLD, AFTER THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
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