The rewards in mining can be high, but so is the risk. Starting a new mining venture is a long and arduous journey, and there are many reasons why it could fail.
"It takes an average of 12 years between...
1. There has been mining there for thousands of years
Archaeologists believe that the Gokomere people (who are the ancestors of today’s Shona people, among others) were smelting iron in what is today Zimbabwe as long ago as the 1st...
1. It is a by-product of copper mining
You can’t mine cobalt; you can only get it as a by-product of copper mining. So, where there’s copper, there’s cobalt. The Copperbelt, which runs through the Central African Republic, the Democratic...
1. Zambia’s emeralds are highly regarded
Emeralds are part of the beryl family of precious stones. Zambia is now one of the three largest producers of the beautiful deep green gemstone, together with Colombia and Brazil. Although emeralds were discovered...
Copper has been around for far more decades, lifetimes, and centuries than most of us can comprehend – ten and a half thousand years, by most estimates. Of course, it wasn’t copper in its recognisable reddish-golden form that naturally...
In a world of diminishing, non-renewable resources, we as consumers of those resources have responsibilities, too. Instead of following the traditional “take-make-dispose” approach to goods, we have the power to play an important role in enabling products to have...
Whenever you lay eyes on a diamond, your first thought is unlikely to be how extremely useful it is, as a stone. But many of the gemstones found in Zambia and elsewhere on the continent have important functions in...
1. Mining is an important sector
In 2014 mining accounted for about four percent of the Tanzanian economy, with the value of mining having doubled since 2009. Minerals were also an important export, accounting for nearly a quarter of the...
1. Their flag has a gun on it
The flag of Mozambique has an image of an AK-47 on it, symbolising the country’s fight for independence, and was adopted in 1983. Other images on the flag include a star, a...
For most people, “copper” calls to mind an important and increasingly rare commodity that’s found in a certain part of Zambia. Here, these mineral deposits were once so rich that the entire area was named Copperbelt Province. But copper...
