Lumwana is a copper mine located in the north western province of Zambia. Built and operated by Equinox Minerals Limited, an international mining company and its subsidiary, Lumwana Mining Company Limited, it produced in 2009, 109 000 tonnes of copper in the form of concentrate which is mostly smelted and refined in Zambia. The project started in 2001 and has provided direct or indirect employment to some 3000 Zambians. It has also given birth to a new town made of 1,000 houses, commercial and retail areas, schools and healthcare facilities. Ralph Gibson, Vice President at Equinox Minerals Limited tells us about this success story. 

From the outset, your company was committed to supporting the economic development of the local population. What is your biggest achievement in this field?

I think our greatest achievement is the employment and training of local people.

Prior to the development of Lumwana, the surrounding area only supported subsistance agriculture and there were very few opportunities for local people to be employed and earn a living. We have been very deliberate in trying to source as much of our labour requirements as possible from the local area. In order to achieve this goal, we have invested heavily in providing the training necessary for people to work safely and effectively throughout the project, including driving our 240 tonne trucks.

There are currently some 3,000 people directly and indirectly employed on the Lumwana Project and a large proportion come from the surrounding villages.

How was the project perceived by the local population? Did this perception evolve other time?

The local population has been supportive from the very beginning. Naturally, people living in the vicinity of the mine needed to be assured that they would not be adversely affected by the project and we worked very closely with the local Chiefs to provide this comfort.

Now that the project has been built and is into operation, the local population remains very supportive.

What were the main challenges the Lumwana project encountered ? How did you overcome them?

I think that the sheer logistics of building a project of Lumwana's scale in a remote location within a landlocked African country was the single greatest challenge. The fact that the project was constructed effectively on time and within 5% of budget is testament to the skill and professionalism of everyone involved in the project's construction.

Looking back, the other key challenge was convincing our shareholders and potential lenders that Equinox had the expertise and capacity to bring such a large project into production.

Has the involvement of multilateral lending institutions made a difference?

I think that it is fair to say that the involvement of multilateral lending institutions was fundamental to the development of the Lumwana Project. Without the support of institutions such as the EIB, it would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, to raise the project finance needed to build the project.