Chibuluma Mines, Copperbelt Province, Zambiai

Regional Level Types
Chibuluma Mines	Mining Area (Active)
Copperbelt Province	Province
Zambia	Country

Description of Operation

Chibuluma Mines Plc, a copper mining company, which is a subsidiary of METOREX LIMITED, is one of the first two copper mining companies to be privatised in 1997. Metorex Limited acquired 85% of the shares with ZCCM Investments Holding Plc holding the remaining 15%. The company operates the Chibuluma South and Chifupu ore bodies. The Company is located in Lufwanyama District. Metorex Limited is part of the JINCHUAN Group.

The Company currently produces 10 000 tons of copper in concentrates per year with the copper concentrates being sold to local smelters.

Brief History

Geological mapping of the area in which Chibuluma Mine is situated began in 1928 but all prospecting was halted during the depression years.

In 1951, the Roan Selection Trust Limited decided to open up the Chibuluma (East) deposit which was the first deposit to be discovered on the Copperbelt by scientific means and was intersected by drilling in 1939.

Roan Selection Trust Limited was formed in 1914 by an American engineer Alfred Chester Beatty who later took up British citizenship.

Operations at the separate Chibuluma West ore body, now commonly known as 7 Shaft, commenced in 1963.

The Chibuluma Mine South ore body was discovered in 1969 by Roan Selection Trust (RST). A total of 113 diamond drill holes were drilled in the area, of which 77 drill holes intersected the Chibuluma South ore body. Ore body intersections were spaced between 75 and 150m apart. Metorex drilled three twin holes in 1999 and verified the thickness and grade of the ore body as defined by the historical drilling.

Following the 1968 Reforms the government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) declared its intention to acquire equity holdings (usually 51% or more) in a number of key foreign-owned firms. By 1970, GRZ had acquired 51% in the RST mines and formed Roan Consolidated Mines Limited (RCM).

In 1982 RCM was merged with Nchanga Consolidated Copper Mines Limited (NCCM), formerly Anglo American controlled to Form Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited (ZCCM) with GRZ holding 60.28% interest.

In the 90’s GRZ commenced privatizing its mining assets and the Chibuluma assets were sold to Metorex ltd, a South African mining company. GRZ retained a 15% shareholding in the new company – Chibuluma Mines plc.

In 2001, Chibuluma Mines plc developed a small open pit with a concentrator and a leach/cementation plant to exploit the upper oxide zone of the Chibuluma South ore body.

In September 2001, operations were suspended due to low copper prices and the mine placed on care and maintenance.

In order to develop an underground mining operation a new company, Chibuluma South Mine Limited, was formed on 26 September 2003. The underground operation mines a copper sulphide resource.

7 Shaft was closed in 2005 when the ore body was exhausted and most of the work force transferred to Chibuluma South.

In July 2007, Chibuluma South Mine Limited ceased to exist and in 2008, the company reverted to its original name: Chibuluma Mines Plc.

The Chibuluma Mine site is located in a semi-rural area of Lufwanyama District, approximately 10 km south of Kalulushi.

As of the 2010 census, the Kalulushi District was home to approximately 100,381 residents. The geographically much larger Lufwanyama District had approximately 78, 503, residents.

Lufwanyama District remains relatively underdeveloped in terms of infrastructure. Road conditions, sanitation systems and electrification rates lag behind conditions witnessed in the urban centres of the Copperbelt, including Kalulushi. Beyond Chibuluma Mine operations, the economy is dominated by subsistence agriculture and trading.

Kalulushi emerged as a planned company town with the development of mining at Chibuluma West and East in the mid-20th century. Economic activity in Kalulushi (as well as the surrounding area) declined severely with the closure of both sites.