BHP to explore Zambia for large-scale copper deposits

Zambia’s mines ministry said that global miner BHP is keen to pursue significant copper assessment in the country, stressing growing transnational interest in the Zambia’s mineral wealth, as rising demand for the metal reshapes global mining priorities.

Zambia is Africa’s second-largest copper producer after Democratic Republic of Congo. The country is looking for more than tripling output by 2031 and is pacing up efforts to attract investment into its largely underexplored deposits.

BHP has largely stayed out of Africa since spinning off South32 in 2015. Its brief investment in Tanzania’s Kabanga nickel project was its only significant foray before exiting last year. Its 2024 bid for Anglo American collapsed partly because it refused to take on Anglo’s South African operations.

However, BHP is now re-entering the region. The company has recently launched a series of exploration workshops across southern Africa, covering Zambia, South Africa, Namibia and Angola.

Many of the remaining large deposits are either deeply buried or hidden beneath geological cover. BHP is deploying advanced geological methods and large-scale data analysis to detect these mineral systems – the geological processes that form major copper deposits.

The mine ministry claims Zambia remains one of the world’s most prospective regions for copper, and ongoing reforms are aimed at translating that potential into higher production and economic growth.