Kansanshi
Kansanshi is a mining town in the northwestern province of Zambia . It is located about 14 kilometers north of Solwezi , 15 kilometers south of the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo at 1,200 meters above sea level. Kansanshi has a population of 41,000 and is located on the western end of the African copper belt .
history
Copper mining in Kansanshi dates back to before AD 1000. It flourished from the 16th to the 19th century, and copper has been extracted using industrial methods since 1908 .
economy
Kansanshi owes its existence exclusively to copper. As a result, the economic well-being of the city depends directly on the development of world market prices for copper.
In the 1980s the place went downhill, in 1986 the annual production sank to 1,000 tons of copper, which was almost the same as the cessation of mining. After the turn of the millennium, the English Kansanshi mine was privatized and Kansanshi experienced a boom due to the rising copper price. The place was even reconnected to the national power grid at the end of 2004. In 2005, Kansanshi Mining PLC , a subsidiary of First Quantum Minerals, opened a new open pit mine , for which US $ 250 million was invested. Currently (2012) 261,351 tons of copper and 136,056 ounces of gold are produced annually. The Times of Zambia expressed the hope associated with the mine: “Kansanshi mine will do for Zambia what many other projects have failed to effect.” (Kansanshi will do for Zambia what other projects failed.) That would then be the largest copper mine of the country. In 2012, 1700 people were employed in the mine and the remaining service life of the open pit was put at 17 years.
Accordingly, Kansanshi was to be connected to the Angolan port of Lobito by 2010 via a new railway line via Mwinilunga and the Benguela Railway .
tourism
The place Kansanshi consists practically only of the mine. Urban life in the neighborhood can be found in Solwezi , a city with an infrastructure for living. In a sense, Kansanshi is the industrial district of Solwezi.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kansanshi. First Quantum Minerals, accessed June 21, 2013 .
Coordinates: 12 ° 6 ′ S , 26 ° 26 ′ E