Lumwana '' is a

mining town A mining community, also known as a mining town or a mining camp, is a community that houses miners. Mining communities are usually created around a mine or a quarry. Historical mining communities Australia * Ballarat, Victoria * Bendig ...

located in

Mwinilunga District Mwinilunga District is a district of Zambia, located in North-Western Province. The capital lies at Mwinilunga Mwinilunga is a town in the North-Western Province of Zambia. It is the headquarters of Mwinilunga District, one of the province's ...

, within the North-Western Province of

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

Geography

The town is located on the T5 Highway, approximately , by road, west of

Solwezi Solwezi is a town in Zambia. It is the provincial capital of the mineral-rich North-Western Province. Solwezi is also the administrative capital of Solwezi District, one of the eleven districts in the North-Western Province. Geography Locati ...

and east of

Mwinilunga Mwinilunga is a town in the North-Western Province of Zambia. It is the headquarters of Mwinilunga District, one of the province's eleven districts. Geography Location The town lies on the west bank of the ''West Lunga River'', along the Ching ...

. Lumwana is approximately by road northwest of

Lusaka Lusaka ( ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was abo ...

, the capital and largest city of Zambia. It is in the

Copperbelt The Copperbelt () is a natural region in Central Africa which sits on the border region between northern Zambia and the south eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It is known for copper mining and is the second largest global reserve of copper, ...

mineral deposits and mining region of

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

Population

The population of Lumwana was estimated at less than 1,000 in 1999. With 1,000 new homes constructed in the town since then, it is estimated that the population of the town in 2010 was approximately 5,000.

Economy

Prior to 1999, Lumwana was a rural village. In 1999,

Equinox Minerals Limited Equinox Minerals is a mining and exploration company with corporate offices in Perth, Australia and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has operations in Peru and Australia. In Zambia it owned the Lumwana Mining Company, but that was bought by Barrick ...

acquired the nearby Lumwana Copper Mine. Over the next 10 years, working with its Zambian subsidiary, Lumwana Mining Company Limited, Equinox carried out feasibility studies, sourced financing and constructed the present infrastructure. The mine was commissioned in December 2008 and is the largest employer in the town. In July 2011, Barrick Gold acquired a 100% interest in Lumwana mine. As of second quarter 2013, the mine employed approximately 1,850 employees and 4,400 contractors. In addition to

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

, the mine also produces

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

, and

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

. ;Lumwana Multi-Facility Economic Zone An economic development zone, called Lumwana Multi-Facility Economic Zone (LMFEZ), is being developed around the mining operations, to include among others; manufacturing, agroprocessing, hotels, and resorts.

Transport

Lumwana is connected to Solwezi, the capital of North Western Province, by a paved road (the T5 Road). The closest air transport facilities are in

() and Mwinilunga (). There are also two old gravel airstrips within of Lumwana. These can handle light aircraft. One of the airstrips, located in the northern part of Chief Mukumbi’s area has been historically used by the Flying Doctor Service. Plans to build a rail line from

Chingola Chingola is a town in Zambia's Copperbelt Province, the country's copper-mining region, with a population of 256,560 (2022 census). It is the home of Nchanga Copper Mine, a deep-shaft high-grade content copper mining operation, which subsequen ...

, through Lumwana, to join the Angolan

Benguela Railway The Benguela Railway () is a 3 ft 6 in gauge railways, Cape gauge railway line that runs through Angola from west to east, being the largest and most important railway line in the country. It also connects to Tenke, Democratic Republic of the C ...

east of

Luacano Luacano is a town and municipality in Moxico Leste Province, Angola. The municipality had a population of 20,755 in 2014. The Luacano River (''Rio Luacano'') flows past the town to the west before entering the Kasai River, which forms the border ...

, have reached an advanced stage. In September 2013, the Government of the Republic of Zambia expressed its intentions to advertise the North-West Railway (NWR) project to both local and foreign investors who would be interested to develop the infrastructure.

Points of interest

Points of interest within the town of Lumwana or in the local area include: * The offices of the Lumwana Town Council * Lumwana Farmers Market — the largest source of fresh produce in the town. * Lumwana Copper Mine - A private copper mine that employs over 3,800 people, owned by

and its Zambian subsidiary, the Lumwana Mining Company Limited. * A branch of

Investrust Bank Investrust Bank Plc., commonly known as Investrust Bank, is a commercial bank in Zambia. It is licensed by the Bank of Zambia, the central bank and national banking regulator. Location The head office of the bank is in Ody's Building, along Great ...

— A medium-sized commercial bank, licensed by the national banking regulator, the

Bank of Zambia The Bank of Zambia (BoZ), is the central bank of Zambia. Overview The principal responsibility of the bank is to create and implement monetary policy that will maintain the economic stability of the country. The Bank is active in promoting financ ...

. * Lumwana Premier Resort — a hotel in Manyama, near the Lumwana Copper Mine, and within an hour's drive of Solwezi and Kalumbila. * North Western University College of Health and Applied Sciences, in Manyama Lumwana, is state of the art university offering health Courses in Registered Nursing and Clinical Medicine. www.nwuc.edu.zm

References

External links

Google Maps.com: map of LumwanaInfomine.com: Profile of Lumwana
{{coord, 11, 49, 32, S, 25, 08, 08, E, region:ZM_type:city, display=title Populated places in North-Western Province, Zambia Mining communities in Africa Mwinilunga District