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The mining industry has been Zambia’s economic and social backbone since the 1930s. The industry is dominated by copper mining, which
started large-scale production in Luanshya in 1931 followed by Nkana in 1932, Mufulira in 1933 and then Nchange in 1939. Copper production
surpassed 400 000 tonnes per year in the 1950s, before reaching a peak of 700 000 tonnes per year in the period between 1969 and 1976.
Mining and mineral extraction are some of the
key activities in the basin’s urban areas. Areas
around the towns of Chegutu, Kadoma and
Kwekwe in Zimbabwe are heavily involved in
mining gold and platinum, while all the urban
areas in Zambia’s Copperbelt are involved in
copper mining. Large-scale mining in Zambia’s
Copperbelt province began in the 1930s,
attracting workers and turning the savannah
woodland into a heavily populated area. Until
the 1960s, the mining industry used wood from
Mining
surrounding lands to produce energy for the
copper mines. This resulted in the clearing of
much of the surrounding woodland.
There is also significant small-scale mining
in rural areas. This includes panning for gold,
a poverty-driven activity that is estimated
to support the livelihoods of about 2 million
people in the riparian states of the Zambezi
basin (Drescler 2001). Panning operations tend
to cause massive damage to river systems. The