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Zambia’s Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) has restarted mining at its Chingola “B” Mine after an 18-year shutdown, bringing a historic Copperbelt operation back into production as the country seeks to more than triple annual copper output by 2031. The restart was marked by the first blast at the Chingola B orebody, which forms part of KCM’s wider Nchanga mining complex. The company expects the operation to produce more than 200,000 tpm once it reaches steady-state production.

KCM group chief executive Deshnee Naidoo described the restart as part of the company's wider expansion programme across its Nchanga and Konkola operations. 

“This will add the production at Nchanga underground because the future of KCM is both our growth at Konkola as well as the growth of Nchanga.” Speaking at the restart, Naidoo said the project would add significant production capacity while highlighting the company's broader expansion plans. “By starting this project, we'll get another 200,000 tpm. So I'm looking forward to the upcoming milestones.”

The reopening comes as Zambia positions copper at the centre of its economic and industrial strategy. The country produced 890,346 t of copper in 2025, below its one-million-ton target, but has set an ambition of reaching 3 Mt of annual production by 2031.

From dormant asset to new production

Chingola B has a significant operating history. Between 1980 and 2003, the mine produced around 60,000 tpm at an average grade of 2.5% copper. Its return therefore gives Zambia an opportunity to extract additional production from an established mining district rather than relying solely on greenfield developments. KCM says the revival is being undertaken in partnership with Teincomin, with the operation adopting newer mining methods intended to improve safety and efficiency.

KCM acting chief operating officer Praveen Sharma said the restart needed to be viewed alongside Zambia's national production ambitions, while emphasising the importance of safe operations. “As we celebrate this milestone, safety remains our number one priority. No copper production before safety.”

That focus is significant given the long period during which the orebody was inactive and the scale of the planned production increase. The company has also indicated that the restart is creating additional employment opportunities. Naidoo said the project had already brought around 80 people into the business-partner workforce, with another 100 expected to be hired in the following months.

KCM targets 300,000 t by 2030

The Chingola B restart forms part of a much larger investment programme at KCM. Vedanta Resources owns 79.4% of KCM, while Zambia's state investment company ZCCM-IH holds 20.6%. KCM operates mines and processing facilities across Chingola, Chililabombwe, Kitwe and Nampundwe. Vedanta has pledged more than $1-billion of investment into KCM, with the company targeting copper production of 300,000 t a year by 2030. The programme includes development of the Konkola Deep Mining Project as well as expansion at Nchanga and other operations.

KCM has previously described the 300,000 t target as a key component of its contribution to Zambia's national production ambitions. The company's strategy is also increasingly focused on the infrastructure and logistics required to move higher volumes of copper. At Mining Indaba 2026, KCM executives discussed with Zambia Railways a potential hybrid road-and-rail transport model, with the companies exploring investment opportunities aimed at improving the efficiency and reliability of mineral transportation.

That infrastructure question will become increasingly important if Zambia is to move from individual mine expansions to sustained national production growth.

Beyond conventional mining

KCM is also seeking to extract more copper from resources that have already been mined. The company recently signed a $498-million agreement with China's NERIN Engineering for a copper recovery plant at Chingola designed to recover copper from existing tailings. The development adds another dimension to Zambia's copper expansion strategy: increasing output not only through new and restarted mining operations, but also through the recovery of value from existing waste streams.

For KCM, that approach sits alongside the revival of dormant assets such as Chingola B and the development of new underground capacity at Konkola. Together, the projects point towards a strategy centred on expanding production from Zambia's established Copperbelt infrastructure while adding new processing capacity.

Zambia's 3 Mt target

The scale of Zambia's ambition is considerable. Moving from 890,346 t of copper production in 2025 to 3 Mt by 2031 would require production to more than triple in six years. The government is therefore looking to a combination of brownfield expansions, new projects, exploration, processing investment and recovery of copper from tailings and other secondary resources.

For KCM, the reopening of Chingola B provides an example of how existing assets can contribute to that expansion. The mine's projected 200,000-plus t of monthly ore production, however, needs to be considered as ore throughput rather than an additional 200,000 t of contained copper. Actual copper output will depend on grade, recovery rates and downstream processing capacity.

That distinction will become increasingly important as Zambia measures progress towards its 2031 target.

A bigger role for Zambia in global copper supply

The timing of the restart is also significant for the global copper market. Copper demand is being supported by investment in electricity networks, renewable energy, electric vehicles, data centres and other infrastructure, while concerns about the ability of global mine supply to keep pace with demand are increasing. That is placing established copper districts such as Zambia's Copperbelt back in focus.

For Zambia, the challenge is no longer simply to demonstrate that it has significant copper resources. The country needs to turn those resources into reliable, scalable production, supported by power, transport, processing capacity and investment.

The Chingola B restart illustrates one route to that objective: bringing a dormant asset back into production and connecting it to an existing mining and processing ecosystem. For KCM, meanwhile, the restart is one milestone within a much broader expansion programme. Naidoo said the company's long-term outlook extended beyond a single mine. “The future of KCM is both our growth at Konkola as well as the growth of Nchanga.”

The performance of Chingola B, the development of Konkola Deep Mining Project and the expansion of processing capacity will now be important indicators of how quickly KCM can translate its investment programme into additional copper production. For Zambia, the broader test is whether a series of mine restarts, brownfield expansions and new investments can collectively move the country towards its 3 Mt copper ambition by 2031.