Zambian Copper Belt gets back on its feet

The Zambian Copper Belt is once again alive – and kicking. This follows an extremely rough year which saw copper prices plummeting and several mines having to close their doors due to the global economic meltdown. With hundreds of Zambians losing their jobs on the mines, the country found itself, like its neighbours, facing a crisis. “We suffered just like many other countries around the world,” says Chrispin Chiinda, director of Cee Cee Freight & Suppliers, a customs clearing and forwarding agency and a representative of several transporters and consolidators from South Africa. “Mines either closed or downscaled, and people started feeling the pinch as retrenchments set in. Copper is extremely important to our economy and as the copper prices dropped the impact on the country became worse. I think we will all remember 2008/2009 as the period in which people had no income as their jobs were made redundant.” But as the world started recovering, so did the copper price and so did Zambia. “Already one can see the change as people seem to be finding their feet again. The copper price is almost stable again and people are back at work trying to regain the losses,” says Chiinda. He says on the Copper Belt there is activity again and mine companies have started re-employing labour. “The mining industry is extremely important to Zambia. It is one of the largest employers other than government and the agricultural sector. We are expecting to see a boost in job creation in the coming months as mining activities increase again.” He says the most important lesson for Zambia during the recession was to be aware of being overly dependent on the mining sector. “It has become clear we need more investments in other sectors of the economy to survive if another global crisis should hit. It is the challenge for us as a country, and possibly Africa as a continent, as we move forward into 2010.”