Zambia is positioning itself for a major expansion of its mining industry, underpinned by an ambitious copper production target supported by regulatory reform, renewed exploration and a broader strategy to harness value from critical minerals.
Nyankhundi Phiri, country manager for SRK Consulting (Zambia), pointed to the two key government frameworks driving change in the sector: the National Mineral Resources Development Policy, focused on improving geological mapping and expanding mineral exploration, and the Three Million Metric tonnes Copper Production Strategy, which targets annual copper output of at least three million tonnes by 2031. “The production target is already influencing the attitude of investors, while reforms are underway to create a more efficient regulatory environment,” said Phiri.
“The establishment of the Minerals Regulation Commission, created under the Minerals Regulation Commission Act 2024 for instance, now handles licensing and regulation while also strengthening coordination with environmental authorities, separate from policy, which sits with the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development.
Targeting new operations
Copper production has been approaching a million tonnes a year, but achieving three million tonnes will require substantially more than expanding existing operations. With the goal of facilitating numerous new mining operations, Zambia is therefore investing in the geological information needed to stimulate new exploration.
“A countrywide geological and geophysical mapping programme was launched in 2024, and is almost 94.2% complete,” he said. “Making this information available to investors will undoubtedly help to unlock new deposits and support Zambia’s drive towards its production target.”
Exploration and mining activity is already building across the country, including outside the traditional Copperbelt, according to Able Tunono, country lead and director of SRK Consulting (Zambia).
More than copper
“There is considerable movement in the mining sector currently, even in the non-copper commodities,” said Tunono. “This includes increased activity around tailings reclamation, old stockpile dumps and new deposits, particularly in north-western Zambia.”
He attributed much of the optimism to strong global copper demand, driven by renewable energy, electric vehicles, transmission infrastructure and data-intensive technologies.
Zambia’s ambitions certainly extend well beyond copper and cobalt, the country’s traditional mineral foundation. Its National Critical Minerals Strategy 2024–2028 also identifies nickel, manganese, lithium, graphite and rare earth elements among the country’s strategic resources. Importantly, the strategy goes beyond extraction, said Phiri – seeking greater local content, beneficiation, manufacturing, skills development and participation in critical-minerals value chains.
Regional mineral hub
“The strategy speaks not just to the extraction of these minerals, but to the important value addition that can be created – which brings industrialisation, job creation and sustainable development,” he said.
Tunono added that Zambia is seeking to position itself as a regional centre for mineral diversification and potentially battery manufacturing, drawing on resources from across the Southern African region. This is one of the focus areas of this year’s Zambia Mining and Investment Insaka – to be held in October – with the theme of ‘Transforming Africa’s Mining Landscape: Regional Value Chains, Shared Prosperity and Empowering Communities’.
Investment in the country is already becoming more diverse, explained Desmond Mossop, partner and principal engineering geologist at SRK Consulting (South Africa) and director at SRK Consulting (Zambia).
“There is interest from major mining companies alongside mid-tier and junior miners, local businesses and joint ventures,” said Mossop. “Infrastructure development is adding to the momentum, with transport corridors such as Lobito, TAZARA rehabilitation and Nacala offering alternative routes for minerals and supporting wider investment.”
More responsibility
Mining growth brings added technical and environmental responsibilities, he pointed out. The national strategy identifies sustainable mining, renewable energy investment and stronger environmental and social regulation as key challenges. Deeper and larger mines increase geotechnical and water-related risks, for example, making early investigation and responsible design essential.
“Conducting larger scale mining responsibly requires that project owners include a range of down-the-line aspects in the up-front design,” emphasised Mossop. “Environmental, closure and technical considerations need to be incorporated from exploration through feasibility and construction.”
Power to grow
Energy is another critical enabler. Phiri notes that an open-access electricity policy allows mines to purchase power directly from independent producers as well as energy traders, turning energy supply into an investment opportunity, while government is targeting substantial additional generating capacity. Transport/corridor upgrades and public-private partnerships are similarly helping address infrastructure constraints.
“For Zambia, the opportunity is therefore about more than producing more copper,” he concluded. “It is about building the geological, regulatory, infrastructure, skills and value-addition capacity required to turn mineral wealth into sustained economic development — while ensuring that rapid growth remains technically sound and environmentally responsible.”
The Critical Minerals Strategy explicitly links this approach to Zambia’s ambition of becoming an industrialised, middle-income country by 2030.
Officially launched in March 2026, the Kitwe office of SRK Consulting (Zambia) builds on the company’s several decades of experience in the country. The multidisciplinary team combines local knowledge with SRK’s international technical expertise, supporting clients across mining, environmental, geotechnical, water, engineering and sustainability disciplines.
