Works suspended at Kansanshi mine in Zambia

First Quantum Minerals Ltd. reported a fatal accident at its Kansanshi copper-gold mine in Zambia, where an employee was killed in a traffic incident involving a tracked dozer and a light vehicle.

Following the accident, the Mine Safety Department and local authorities were notified, and First Quantum is fully cooperating with the ongoing investigation. An internal investigation has also been launched. In response to the incident, the company has temporarily suspended operations in the affected area.

Kansanshi Mining PLC

Kansanshi Mining PLC, which operates the mine, is 80% owned by First Quantum. It is a large open-pit copper and gold mine in Solwezi in the North-Western Province of Zambia. The mine is located 10 km north of the town of Solwezi. Kansanshi has one of the largest copper reserves in Zambia, with estimated reserves of 727 million tonnes of ore graded at 0.86% copper

Zambia, in southern central Africa, has been a mining powerhouse for well over 100 years and is one of the largest copper producers in Africa. Mining is crucial to the Zambian economy and is responsible for three-quarters of Zambia’s export earnings.

The main copper mining region in Zambia is the Copperbelt Province, centred on the cities of Kitwe and Ndola. The largest copper mines are Kansanshi, Konkola, Lumwana and Mufilira in the Copperbelt Province, and Sentinel in the North-western Province.

Many years of mining in the Copperbelt have resulted in the production of a large volume of waste material. Much of this is slag from the copper refining process and contains elements such as chromium, which is known to be a potentially harmful element (PHE).