With Glencore International Plc, Vedanta Resources Plc and First Quantum Minerals Ltd all expanding their Zambian copper mines, while the China Non-Ferrous Mining Corporation opens a new one, the country is experiencing a welcome 'ripple effect' seen in wider investment and infrastructure development.

As copper prices have almost doubled on the commodities markets and interest and investment in Zambia has gathered pace, the Government has launched a 1 trillion-kwacha ($207 million) road rebuild and refurbishment programme as the flagship of a planned broader upgrade of key infrastructure including rail and bridges.
 
Increased tax revenue from major new private investments in copper production such as those made by First Quantum, which has plans to build a $1 billion mine near Solwezi in northwest Zambia, has bolstered Zambian Government coffers.
 
Key Government target sectors for diversification are agriculture and tourism. Growth in mining has driven demand for more, and a greater variety, of food products (Zambia brought in a record maize harvest of some three million tons last year) as well as a wider interest in Zambia’s tourism offering, which includes the hugely popular Victoria Falls.
 
His Excellency, President Rupiah Banda of Zambia, said: “As a result of the growth of the mining industry, the money that we have generated has helped us to diversify the economy and support other sectors, like agriculture. This year’s recent maize harvest has seen us break all previous records, harvesting over 3 million tons of maize which is helping stabilize food prices and give Zambians a better standard of life.”
 
Increased private investment has helped boost Zambia’s copper output, which is predicted to double from 713,000 tons last year to some 1.5 million tons by 2020, according to Mines Minister Maxwell Mwale. Copper remains Zambia’s main export, accounting for 70 percent of foreign-exchange earnings, and is forecast to bring in more than $7 billion this year.
  
IMF forecasts in April 2011 pegged a rise in Zambia’s economic growth from 6.8 percent this year to 7.4 percent in 2012, compared with an average growth of less than 1 percent during the 1990s.