Zambia inaugurated one of its largest mining investments in more than a decade on 19 August, as First Quantum Minerals (FQM) officially opened its $1.25bn Sulphide-3 (S3) expansion at the Kansanshi copper mine in Solwezi.
President Hakainde Hichilema joined senior officials and FQM executives at the official commissioning, which marks a major step in Zambia’s push to more than triple copper production by 2030. The country’s production rose by 14% in 2024 to around 820,000 tonnes.
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In July, Mining Technology visited FQM’s Zambian operations, Kansanshi and Trident, to see first-hand the scale, challenges and potential of this cornerstone investment.
Located in Zambia’s North-Western Province, at the heart of the country’s copper belt, those are the country’s biggest copper producers. The Trident operation, near the city of Kalumbila, includes the Sentinel copper mine and the Enterprise nickel operation. Around 160km east, near Solwezi, the Canadian mining company also runs the Kansanshi copper mine, one of the largest in Africa.
S3 expansion, a strategic investment
In 2023, FQM launched the Kansanshi S3 expansion, the third major development phase at the mine and a $2bn project to adapt operations to deeper, lower-grade sulphide ore.
As Mining Technology could see on the ground, the centrepiece is a new 25 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) processing plant, due to come online in the second half of 2025 and ramping up to full capacity by 2029.
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By GlobalDataThe expansion, which also extends the South East Dome pit, will lift Kansanshi’s output to around 280,000 tonnes per annum (tpa), supporting a combined 480,000tpa of copper from Kansanshi and Sentinel by 2027, a 93,000-tonne (t) increase from 2023.
S3 extends Kansanshi’s mine life to at least 2044, with operations continuing to 2049. So far, 1.5 billion tonnes (bt) of ore has been mined, with 3.6bt remaining.
Investment in the Kansanshi S3 expansion accelerated in 2024 with more than $800m spent, bringing total expenditure to $1.1bn. The remaining $900m investment is expected to follow by 2029.
The S3 project will also add around 900 permanent jobs across engineering, maintenance, mining, processing, smelting and support services, reinforcing its broad economic impact in Zambia.
FQM celebrates almost 30 years in Zambia
“The journey at S3 is only the latest chapter. Indeed, this project is part of a 30-year journey that First Quantum has shared with the people of Zambia,” said FQM CEO Tristan Pascall in a speech at the opening ceremony.
“Over three decades, we have invested not only in world-class mining assets but also in the careers, local companies, institutions and communities that surround them,” he added.
FQM’s presence in Zambia goes back to 1996, beginning with the acquisition of the Bwana Mkubwa copper mine in Ndola, in the Copperbelt Province, later closed in 2011 because copper reserves had been exhausted.
In 2001, the copper miner acquired an 80% stake in the Kansanshi project, around 400km north-west of Ndola, bringing the copper mine into commercial production by 2005. A major milestone followed in 2014 with the start of construction on the Kansanshi smelter, which reached full commercial operations the following year.
FQM expanded its Zambian footprint in 2010 with the acquisition of Kiwara Plc, gaining control of the Trident project and its flagship asset, the Sentinel copper mine.
Construction of Sentinel and its processing plant began in 2012, with first concentrate produced in 2014 and commercial production achieved in November 2016. The mine has since grown steadily. Sentinel delivered 231,000t of copper in 2024 following the installation of a fourth crusher and a new conveyor system in 2022. Sentinel’s production guidance for 2025 is 200,000–230,000t.
Meanwhile, the Enterprise nickel mine, located 12km from Sentinel, began commercial production on 1 June 2024. It represents Zambia’s largest nickel development and strengthens FQM’s diversification, adding a new strategic metal alongside its copper operations.
Kansanshi: a flagship operation
Kansanshi has been a flagship operation for FQM since 2004. The mine is owned and operated by Kansanshi Mining, a joint venture between FQM (80%) and Zambian state-owned investment company ZCCM Investments Holdings (20%).
Kansanshi’s processing circuits comprise its main pits, crushers, the existing and S3 process plants, the smelter and tailings storage facilities.
The plant processes 13mtpa of sulphide ore, 8mtpa of mixed ore and 7mtpa of oxide ore through dedicated milling and flotation circuits. Sulphide ore undergoes conventional flotation, while mixed and oxide ores are treated with sulphidisation and leaching. Copper is recovered as cathode via solvent extraction and electrowinning, and as anode through smelting.
The Kansanshi smelter, which was closed for maintenance at the time of the visit, is designed to treat concentrates from Kanshansi, Sentinel and third parties. The smelter processes copper concentrate from the mine’s flotation circuits to produce high-purity copper anodes.
The Kansanshi smelter has a nameplate capacity of 1.2mtpa of concentrate, producing approximately 300,000tpa of copper anode. It also generates more than 1mtpa of sulphuric acid as a by-product, which is reused in leaching operations. This integration enhances efficiency, reduces reliance on external acid supply and supports cost-effective copper recovery across the operation.
The Kansanshi site also produced 105,113oz of gold in 2024.
Focus on the environment
Kansanshi is driving fleet electrification with a pilot Hitachi 220t battery-electric dump truck, the world’s largest fully electric dump truck, as seen by Mining Technology during the visit.
The mine is supported by a 19-unit digger fleet where electric machines now deliver 59% of productivity versus 41% from diesel. The mine operates ten trolley lines spanning 8km to cut emissions and improve efficiency, with further extensions planned.
(Thimothy Kambidima).
Mining in Zambia faces risks from land, water and power competition. This is intensified by climate change, as 85% of electricity comes from hydropower.
In 2025, FQM is sourcing 193MW of emergency generating capacity to cover 60% of its demand, adding $80m of expenditure and raising copper costs by $0.07 per pound. To address this, the company works with state-owned power utility Zambia Electricity Supply on grid projects and renewables expansion.
FQM has also implemented advanced environmental measures in water and waste management, including a 2021 on-site bottling plant at Sentinel and rehabilitation efforts at Trident.
The company also supports biodiversity conservation programmes and farming projects, helping local growers earn income from crops like chiles and beans.
Kansanshi’s tailings storage facilities are managed under the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM). The site also uses advanced monitoring systems including 140-plus piezometers, tiltmeters and fibre-optics that detect vibrations, acoustic signals and temperature shifts to flag seepage or internal erosion.
Safety is the company’s top priority, supported by technologies such as AI fatigue monitoring and wrist-worn ReadiWatches to detect micro-sleeps, and monitor vital sign tracking in addition to road monitoring, fleet management and lightning detection systems. Despite these measures, mining remains high-risk; in June, a dump truck operator died at Sentinel, with investigations ongoing, although operations have since resumed.
Attracting foreign investment into Zambia
Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer after the Democratic Republic of Congo, accounts for around 3% of global output and ranked tenth worldwide in 2023, with FQM’s Sentinel and Kansanshi mines leading production.
Since taking office in 2021, President Hakainde Hichilema has worked to rebuild investor confidence, which was strained under his predecessor Edgar Lungu’s mining tax regime. The president set an ambitious goal to nearly quadruple copper output from 800,000t to 3mt by 2030, backed by new strategies and the 2024 Minerals Regulation Commission Act.
Speaking at the launch of Kansanshi’s S3 expansion, Hichilema hailed it as “a development that reflects not only the scale of private sector confidence in Zambia but also the direction of our country under the New Dawn Government. A Zambia that is open, ready and rising.”
“This launch is not just about the mining sector – it is about Zambia’s future. It is a signal to the world that Zambia is charting a new path, one anchored in partnerships that empower, investments that uplift and leadership that listens.”
Beyond Zambia, FQM operates mines in Mauritania, Australia, Turkey, Finland and Panama, and is advancing projects in Argentina, Peru and Spain. With Cobre Panamá idle since November 2023, costing $15m per month, Zambia has become its core revenue driver.
