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Ideas for Development, Kitwe (2026)

05/10/2026

Canada only produces 325,000 tonnes of copper per year (which is 0.325 million tonnes).

It is the 12th on the list of copper producers (not even in the top 10).

Yet, the city of Vancouver in Canada is the global financial capital for mining. Zambia has a lot to learn about money for mining projects.

60% of the world's mining and exploration companies are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada.

People looking for cash to invest in mining through selling of shares or any other financing go to Canada and not Peru or DRC.

Chile produces 5.3 million tonnes of copper ( the highest on the list). 70% stake in their mining operations is foreign owned and capital is raised externally.

Zambia is 8th on the list at 0.9 million tonnes of copper each year.

The “mining indaba” takes place in Cape Town, South Africa to discuss foreign direct investment for mine operations in other countries.

For those may not know, South Africa only produces 40,000 tonnes ( 0.04 million tonnes of copper- 31st on the list ) but they host the indaba.

My suggestion to govt is that, this years mining and investment insaka taking place on the 19th of October 2026 in Lusaka should also tackle the issue of raising capital locally for Zambians to own new mining ventures.

Christopher Kang’ombe

The author is a former MP. He specializes in development policy. He holds a degree in Electrical/ Mechanical Engineering and a masters in Economic Policy Management.

01/10/2026

$266 million dollars was paid by Barrick Lumwana Mine in form of taxes and royalties to ZRA in 2025.

The firms’ total copper production was 151,000 tonnes last year. Meaning, their gross revenue was in billions of dollars.

ZCCM-IH owns 0% in Lumwana Mine as the 100% shares belong to Barrick Gold.

Barrick Gold is listed on both the New York Stork exchange in America and the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada for easy raising of capital.

The Capital Markets Conference is currently taking place in Livingstone, organized by the Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE).

It would be important for the conference not to conclude on Friday 2nd October 2026 without discussing how citizens can collectively raise millions of dollars for local investments.

Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI) remains very critical in getting capital to flow into Zambia but we also need to get Zambians to the table of investment through collective schemes.

Let us create locally owned business enterprises to the scale of Barrick Gold.

The starting point is for the regulator, Securities Exchange Commission ( SEC) to provide guidance together with LuSE.

Christopher Kang’ombe

The author is a former MP who specializes in development policy. He holds a degree in Electrical/ Mechanical Engineering and a masters in Economic Policy Management.

30/09/2026

Is 3 million tonnes of Copper per annum attainable 🇿🇲 ?

Zambia currently produces just below 1 million tonnes of copper per year.

In 2021, government announced that by 2031, mining firms put together should be producing 3 million tonnes of copper for each financial year.

The production target should be partly anodes and predominantly cathodes.

Meaning, the raw copper ore must be crushed, processed in the concentrator and finally into the smelter for refinement.

The challenge is not the lack of Solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX- EW ) facilities that produce cathodes from leach solutions or that of the smelters and refineries in Zambia .

- Kansanshi Mine has a smelter in solwezi

- Nchanga Mine has a smelter in Chingola

- Mopani Mine has a smelter in Mufulira

- CCS has a smelter at their Chambishi plant

The issue is getting more raw copper ore from the open pit and underground mines;

Strategy 1- old existing copper mines must triple their production to give 3 times the amount of raw copper ore.

Or

Strategy 2- new copper mines opening up to be able to produce 3 times the quantity of raw copper ore.

The price of copper is at $14,700 per tonne ( high enough to attract investment for expanding production ).

Starting point - The Ministry of Mines must indicate what production commitment each mining company is making towards the 3 million tonnes target.

Christopher kang’ombe

The author is a former MP. He specializes in development policy. He is an Engineer by profession and also holds a masters in Economic Policy Management.

25/09/2026

President Hichilema announced on 10th August 2026 plans to extend student loans to private universities ( Christopher Kang’ombe took same motion to parliament in 2022) 🇿🇲

17/09/2026

Employement of 226 Empowerment Officers in all constituencies 🇿🇲

Let me start with a question. Whose job is it currently in the 226 constituencies to perform the following tasks ?

1. training residents on how to prepare good business proposals

2. training residents on financial record keeping

3. teaching citizens on how to pay back loans while keeping new businesses afloat

4. organizing business linkage meetings with offtakers of goods and services provided in the constituency ?

Currently, there is no one stationed in the constituency to perform this duty and that is a big problem.

The Community Development Officers from municipal councils are not experts at credit and fund management.

My proposal is that part of re-designing empowerment programs funded by government will require that ;

The 2027 national budget has provision for employing 226 qualified Zambians as empowerment officers for all the constituencies.

Christopher Kang’ombe

The author is a former MP who is specialized in development policy. He holds a degree in Electrical/ Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Economic Policy Management.

15/09/2026

Zambians are not lazy 🇿🇲

Accomplished finance and tax expert chikusi Banda shared something we have all not paid attention to ( the amazing entrepreneural spirit possessed by young people we call the Gen Z).

They are selling gadgets while in college, operating mobile money business and running anything to do with cosmetics and make up stuff. They are aggressive.

Check how many young people are walking as early as 05:00hrs from Mulenga compound, wusakile and kamatipa heading towards town looking for opportunities in kitwe ?

On one of my early flights from Lusaka airport , I noticed a lot of traders on bicycles loaded with farm produce as early as 04:30hrs heading towards the city to earn a living. That is not laziness.

The gold rush in mufumbwe attracted Zambians from all parts of the country. That is a reminder that if we re-designed our empowerment programs, we can achieve correct targeting to support different Zambians with different opportunities.

Christopher Kang’ombe

The author is a former MP who specializes in development policy. He holds a degree in Electrical/ Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Economic Policy Management.

09/09/2026

You don’t need to know a politician to borrow cash through mobile money.

It is time to re-design empowerment programs funded by government 🇿🇲

Problem No.1- Recipients of govt loans do not pay back funds because of the involvement of politicians (Ministers,MP, councillor, Mayor, PS and DC).

The revolving fund fails to help the next set of beneficiaries because cash is not repaid by the first group.

Problem No.2- One person can go from one govt ministry to another and apply for different loans, disadvantaging other would be beneficiaries

There is no single digital register resulting in cooperatives having same individuals forming more groups under different names.

Problem No.3 - no incentives for start - ups resulting in business ventures dying before they stabilize

I took a motion to parliament on 26th of March 2025 asking government to come up with incentives specifically for zambians who are starting business.

Problem No.4- Zambians have skills to manufacture products like doors and frames but no one within the production line ensures that such items have the right level of quality to compete against those imported.

Way forward- The next set of loans funded by govt should be issued through independent financial institutions (no politicians involved) and must have a quality assurance plan for goods or service the applicant will offer.

For Development

Christopher Kang’ombe

The author is a former MP. He is an Electrical/ Mechanical Engineer by profession and also holds a Masters in Economic Policy Management.

11/07/2026

How will 10 million litres of crude oil per day get into Ndola from Dar es Salam for the proposed ZPEC refinery ?

According to the project brief, the proposed refinery will process 60,000 barrels of crude oil per day (which is 10,000,000 litres in 24hrs).

The processing capacity by engineering design is very good. However, the challenge is that currently there is no pipeline from Tanzania to Zambia that can transport crude oil.

Constructing a new pipeline measuring 1,700 kilometers, parallel to the old one, requires just above a billion dollars in funding and it would take up to 5 years.

A single tanker can only carry 35,000 to 40,000 litres, meaning per day a total of 300 trucks will have to transport crude oil into Ndola from Tanzania.

Logistics and transport experts will have to tell us how practical it will be to achieve such volumes of crude oil in a day by road.

The alternative mode would be moving the crude oil cargo by rail into Ndola. Timely rail delivery per day would face capacity challenges to meet target.

The project team needs to look at these concerns if the 10 million litres of feed stock has to reach Ndola in a day.

Lastly, are Zambian business men and women well positioned through out the entire value chain from construction through to operations of the refinery ?

NOTE: The refinery will be developed and run by ZPEC (a joint venture by Fujian Xiang Xin Corporation and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).

Christopher Kang’ombe

The author is a former MP who is specialized in development policy. He is an Electrical/ Mechanical Engineer by profession and also holds a Master of Arts in Economic Policy Management.

08/07/2026

30 shareholders in one company ? 🇿🇲

The Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE) has set up Alternative Investments Markets(AIM) as a platform for small to medium scale companies to raise capital at lower cost.

If the current trading turnover of a company is k 250,000 per annum and extra money is needed for expansion, the AIM presents an opportunity for shares to be offloaded via LuSE.

One of the conditions is that the company should cease to be a private firm and become a Public Listed Company (PLC).

The number of shareholders will have to be a minimum of 30 in one company.

The issuer shall have not less than 500,000 equity shares in issue according to section 21 of the LuSE alternative market conditions for listing.

MY QUESTION TO THE ZAMBIAN ENTREPRENEUR- how many Zambian business men and women are willing to work with 30 others?

Few weeks ago I proposed a Collective Investment Scheme(CIS) where 100,000 Zambians each contribute $1,000 to raise $100 million dollars to own and operate a mining company.

Some people responded that Zambians cannot work together and putting cash together would be problematic.

Christopher kang’ombe

The author is a former MP who specializes in development policy. He is an Engineer by profession(CBU) and also holds a Master of Arts in Economic Policy Management(UNZA)

17/05/2026

Christopher Kang’ombe expresses gratitude to the people of Zambia as he exits parliament to focus on “Ideas For Development “

Ideas for Development

05/10/2026

01/10/2026

30/09/2026

25/09/2026

17/09/2026

15/09/2026

09/09/2026

11/07/2026

08/07/2026

17/05/2026

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