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Facts & Industry Context
A factual overview of copper, Zambia's copper industry and the structural factors shaping future supply — what the metal is used for, what Zambia produces, where the country sits in the global market, and how supply and demand are related.
A conductive metal the electrical system depends on
Copper is a naturally occurring metallic element with very high electrical and thermal conductivity, high ductility and good corrosion resistance. Those properties make it the default material for carrying electricity: wherever power is generated, transmitted, distributed, converted or stored, copper is normally present. It is also fully recyclable without loss of performance, so refined metal and recycled metal compete in the same market.
Where the metal is actually consumed
Overhead conductors, underground cable, substation equipment and transformers. Grid construction and replacement is the single largest end use of copper.
Generators, windings, busbars and station cabling across thermal, hydro and nuclear generation alike.
Solar and wind installations use more copper per unit of capacity than conventional thermal plant, largely in cabling and collection systems.
Motors, wiring harnesses, battery packs and charging infrastructure. An electric vehicle contains materially more copper than an equivalent combustion vehicle.
Power distribution, busways, cooling systems and internal cabling inside computing facilities.
Local access networks, connectors, shielding and the power infrastructure that supports fibre and wireless networks.
Motors, heat exchangers, plumbing, roofing and general construction products.
Sector descriptions above are qualitative. For quantified end-use and demand projections, see the IEA Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2026 referenced below.
A century of copper mining, two producing regions
Commercial copper mining in Zambia dates from the development of the Copperbelt in the 1920s and 1930s, around the towns of Kitwe, Chingola, Mufulira, Luanshya and Ndola. The industry was nationalised under Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines from 1970, and privatised in stages from the late 1990s, after which the current operator base of international mining companies was established.
Production today comes from two geographic centres: the historic Copperbelt in the north, and North-Western Province, where Kansanshi, Trident/Kalumbila and Lumwana operate. The Zambian deposits belong to the Central African Copperbelt, a sediment-hosted metallogenic province that continues across the border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The supporting industry is long-established: smelting and refining capacity, rail and road corridors to the ports of Dar es Salaam, Walvis Bay, Beira and Durban, a national grid dominated by hydroelectric generation, a mining-experienced workforce, and geological survey records accumulated over decades.
Copper is central to the national economy: Zambia is Africa’s second-largest copper producer after the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and copper accounts for the large majority of the country’s export earnings.
Reported national output by year
Output in 2025 was 8% above 2024 and was the highest annual figure reported to date, while falling short of the Government’s stated one-million-tonne target for the year. Reported drivers were higher output at Konkola and Mopani and increases at Kansanshi and Lubambe; offsetting factors included a tailings dam failure that suspended one operation and lower grades at Trident.
Mine production by country, 2025 estimates
Thousand metric tons of contained copper. Bars are proportional to the largest producer.
On these estimates Zambia is the seventh-largest copper-producing country and the second-largest in Africa, accounting for roughly 4% of world mine production. Zambia is a significant supplier rather than a market-setting one: the three largest producers together account for well over half of global output.
Why the two sides move at different speeds
Demand for copper is driven by electrification and infrastructure: grid build-out and replacement, generation capacity, transport electrification and computing facilities. The IEA records global refined copper demand of close to 27 million tonnes in 2024 and projects approximately 33 million tonnes by 2035 under its Stated Policies Scenario.
Supply moves on a different clock. New mines are constrained by declining average ore grades, rising capital costs, a limited pipeline of recent discoveries, and development timelines that the IEA puts at an average of around 17 years from discovery to production. On the current pipeline of existing and announced projects, the IEA projects a copper supply gap of approximately 25% against 2035 primary supply requirements under that same scenario — narrower than the approximately 30% projected in the previous year’s Outlook, as new projects advance, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia.
A projection is not an outcome. Shortfalls can be narrowed by higher recycling rates, substitution in some applications, demand-side efficiency, brownfield expansion at existing operations and faster permitting. What the projections do establish is that the industry needs a continuing supply of new projects being advanced through exploration and study stages, because the lead times involved mean supply cannot respond quickly to price.
Why Zambia stays in the conversation
Zambia’s relevance to future copper supply rests on identifiable conditions rather than on expectation: an established geological endowment within the Central African Copperbelt; a producing base of large operations with published expansion plans; existing smelting, power and transport infrastructure; a legal and licensing framework with a long operating record; and a workforce and technical services sector already oriented to copper.
The Government has stated a target of three million tonnes of annual copper production by 2031. That is a policy objective, not a projection: it implies roughly a threefold increase on 2025 output and depends on new mine construction, sustained investment, and resolution of constraints — notably electricity supply, which has been affected by drought-driven hydropower shortfalls, and the logistics capacity of export corridors.
Growth of that order cannot come from existing mines alone, which is the structural reason exploration and early-stage project development in Zambia continue to attract attention. Whether any individual project becomes a mine is a separate question, answered only by exploration results, technical studies and permitting.
Where sources report different figures for the same period, both are shown with their basis. Figures are not restated or projected by Jimbe Minerals. This page is general industry information and is not an offer, solicitation or investment recommendation.