ZESCO has commissioned the 50MW Mansa solar plant in Zambia's Luapula Province, the area's first major generation investment in over 60 years, easing load shedding and supporting local manganese mining.
Two of Zambia's largest copper smelters, Mopani and Chambishi, face extended maintenance outages in 2026, threatening copper output and sulphuric acid supply already strained by the Iran war.
First Quantum Minerals says its $500m, 430MW wind-and-solar project with Total Eren and Chariot for its Kansanshi and Sentinel mines in Zambia remains on track, creating over 1,200 construction jobs.
Chinese copper producers CMOC and Zijin have taken equity stakes in the venture rebuilding TAZARA, the railway linking Zambia's copperbelt to Dar es Salaam, under a $1.24bn, 30-year concession.
Flooding brought down the Kakoso bridge on the Zambian road to Kasumbalesa, cutting off a route that carries roughly a third of the DRC's copper cathode exports and forcing trucks onto detours.
Copperbelt Energy Corporation says Zambia's mining sector will need close to 10GW of new generation and nearly $12bn in investment by 2030 to meet a target of three million tonnes of copper a year.
Zambia produced 890,346t of copper in 2025, up 8% on 2024, the mines ministry said, leaving the country about 110,000t short of its 1Mt target for the year.
Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and the DRC have signed a declaration to extend the Nacala railway corridor by about 2,400km, linking Chipata in Zambia to the DRC and onward to the Port of Nacala.
The US International Development Finance Corporation signed a $553m loan on 17 December 2025 as part of a $753m package, with the Development Bank of Southern Africa, to rehabilitate Angola's Benguela railway and Lobito port for Copperbelt exports.
Vedanta Resources launched CopperTech Metals, a US-domiciled company to own and operate Zambia's Konkola Copper Mines, on 7 November 2025, alongside plans for a $1.5bn investment and an 11.9% stake sale worth about $372m.
Human Rights Watch says residents affected by the February 2025 Sino-Metals acid spill in Zambia continue to report health problems and is calling for a comprehensive, independent health investigation.
First Quantum Minerals abandoned plans to sell minority stakes in its Kansanshi and Sentinel mines in Zambia, its CEO said on 25 August 2025, after a $500m Jiangxi Copper prepayment and an earlier $1bn Royal Gold stream eased balance-sheet pressure.
First Quantum Minerals agreed on 5 August 2025 to a $1bn gold stream with Royal Gold referenced to copper production at its Kansanshi mine in Zambia, providing non-dilutive funding as it expands the operation.
A dam at Sino-Metals Leach Zambia's Chambishi operation burst on 18 February 2025, releasing acidic effluent that killed fish along the Kafue River and prompted a presidential declaration of crisis.
