(Picture: Konkola Copper Mines in Chingola, Copperbelt Province, Zambia) Zambia is richly endowed with mineral resources. The Copper Industry is the foremost economic driver in Zambia, which is the largest producer of copper in the world. The Copperbelt Province is a natural reservoir of the mineral in Zambia. At one time the Nchanga Mines (now Konkola Copper Mine or KCM) was the largest open pit mine in the world. Other mineral resources prevalent in Zambia include cobalt, zinc, lead, coal, emeralds, gold, silver, uranium, and hydropower. Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (Latin: cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with excellent electrical conductivity and is rather supple in its pure state and has a pinkish luster which is (beside gold) unusual for metals which are normally silvery white. It finds use as a heat conductor, an electrical conductor, as a building material, and as a constituent of various metal alloys. Copper is an essential trace nutrient to all high plants and animals. In animals, including humans, it is found primarily in the bloodstream, as a co-factor in various enzymes, and in copper-based pigments. However, in sufficient amounts, copper can be poisonous and even fatal to organisms.
Cobalt is a hard, lustrous, silver-grey metal, a chemical element with symbol Co. It is found in various ores, and is used in the preparation of magnetic, wear-resistant, and high-strength alloys. Its compounds are used in the production of inks, paints, and varnishes. Cobalt is a silver or gray ferromagnetic metal. Pure cobalt is not found in nature, but compounds of cobalt occur naturally in many forms. Small amounts of it are found in most rocks, soil, water, plants, and animals. It is the element of atomic number 27. The Curie temperature is 1388 K with 1.6~1.7 Bohr magnetons per atom. In nature, it is frequently associated with nickel, and both are characteristic ingredients of meteoric iron. Mammals require small amounts of cobalt which is the basis of vitamin B12. Cobalt-60, an artificially produced radioactive isotope of cobalt, is an important radioactive tracer and cancer-treatment agent. Cobalt has a relative permeability two thirds that of iron. Metallic cobalt commonly presents a mixture of two crystallographic structures hcp and fcc with a transition temperature hcp→fcc of 722 K. Cobalt has a hardness of 5.5 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness Common oxidation states of cobalt include +2 and +3, although compounds with oxidation state +1 are also well developed. Zinc is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. In nonscientific context it is sometimes called spelter. Commercially pure zinc is known as Special High Grade, often abbreviated SHG, and is 99.995% pure. Coal is a fossil fuel formed in ecosystems where plant remains were preserved by water and mud from oxidization and biodegradation, thus sequestering atmospheric carbon. Coal is a readily combustible black or brownish-black rock. It is a sedimentary rock, but the harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rocks because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. It is composed primarily of carbon and hydrogen along with small quantities of other elements, notably sulfur. Coal is extracted from the ground by coal mining, either underground mining or open pit mining (surface mining). Emeralds are a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6,) colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5 - 8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Most emeralds are highly included, so their brittleness (resistance to breakage) is classified as generally poor. The word "emerald" comes from Latin smaragdus, via Greek smaragdos, its original source being a Semitic word izmargad or the Sanskrit word, marakata, meaning "emerald" or "green". Gold formed the basis for the gold standard used before the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. The ISO currency code of gold bullion is XAU. Modern industrial uses include dentistry and electronics, where gold has traditionally found use because of its good resistance to oxidative corrosion. Chemically, gold is a transition metal and can form trivalent and univalent cations upon solvation. Gold does not react with most chemicals, but is attacked by chlorine, fluorine, aqua regia and cyanide. Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, but does not react with it. Gold is insoluble in nitric acid, which will dissolve silver and base metals, and this is the basis of the gold refining technique known as "inquartation and parting". Nitric acid has long been used to confirm the presence of gold in items, and this is the origin of the colloquial term "acid test," referring to a gold standard test for genuine value. Silver is a chemical element with the symbol "Ag" (Latin: argentum, from the Ancient Greek: ἀργήντος - argēntos, gen. of ἀργήεις - argēeis, "white, shining”) and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal. It occurs as a pure free metal (native silver) and alloyed with gold (electrum), as well as in various minerals, such as argentite and chlorargyrite. Most silver is produced as a by-product of copper, gold, lead, and zinc mining.
Uranium is a silver-gray metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table that has the symbol U and atomic number 92. It has 92 protons and 92 electrons, 6 of them valence electrons. It can have between 141 and 146 neutrons, with 146 (U-238) and 143 in its most common isotopes. Uranium has the highest atomic weight of the naturally occurring elements. Uranium is approximately 70% more dense than lead, but not as dense as gold or tungsten. It is weakly radioactive. It occurs naturally in low concentrations (a few parts per million) in soil, rock and water, and is commercially extracted from uranium-bearing minerals such as uraninite (see uranium mining). (Source: Wikipedia)
[Lake Kariba/Kariba Dam, Zambia, the Largest Man-Made Lake in the World] |
Copper has played a significant part in the history of mankind, which has used the easily accessible uncompounded metal for thousands of years. Several early civilizations have early evidence of using copper. During the Roman Empire, copper was principally mined on Cyprus, hence the origin of the name of the metal as Cyprium, "metal of Cyprus", later shortened to Cuprum. A number of countries, such as Chile and the United States, still have sizable reserves of the metal which are extracted through large open pit mines. However, like tin, there may be insufficient reserves to sustain current rates of consumption. High demand relative to supply has caused a price spike in the 2000s. Copper also has a significant presence as a decorative metal art. It can also be used as an anti-germ surface that can add to the anti-bacterial and antimicrobial features of buildings such as hospitals. 
Silver has been known since ancient times and has long been valued as a precious metal, used to make ornaments, jewellery, high-value tableware and utensils (hence the term "silverware") and currency coins. Today, silver metal is used in electrical contacts and conductors, in mirrors and in catalysis of chemical reactions. Its compounds are used in photographic film and dilute solutions of silver nitrate and other silver compounds are used as disinfectants. Although the antimicrobial uses of silver have largely been supplanted by the use of antibiotics, further research into its clinical potential is in progress. 