Why Zambia’s Mining Future Will Be Shaped by Banks Willing to Go Early

 

 

Zambia has been producing copper since the 1930s. This copper built cities, formed the backbone of the economy at independence and, for a period, made one of the wealthiest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Zambians do not need to be told what mining can do. They have also lived through what happens when it goes wrong when copper prices collapse, when mines close, when towns built around a single shaft are left behind.