The Mining Industry of Zambia

Abstract

In terms of value the Zambian minerals industry is the second largest in the SADCC, but it is virtually all copper and its byproduct cobalt. From independence in 1964, the government made some progress in the diversification of the economy by expanding the manufacturing industry, but this was in turn dependent on copper earnings for the import of inputs. At the same time there was a stagnation and then a decline of the agricultural sector. The main difficulty presently facing Zambian planners is the constantly declining real value of the principal export product, copper.