Northwestern Province

Northwestern Province represents Zambia's copper frontier—the new Copperbelt rather than the old. While the traditional mining zone around Kitwe and Ndola extracted for a century, Northwestern Province's Lumwana Mine (Barrick Gold) became Africa's largest open-pit copper mine only in 2008. The Lunda people's traditional territory now hosts the infrastructure that may define Zambia's next mining era. Solwezi, the provincial capital, transformed from a remote bush town to a mining hub within two decades, demonstrating how resource discovery reshapes human geography overnight. KoBold Metals, backed by Bill Gates and other tech investors, is reportedly planning a $2 billion copper mine near Solwezi—seeking the 'green copper' that electric vehicle batteries demand. The province borders both DRC and Angola, creating cross-border dynamics that range from informal trade to potential railway connections. The Lobito Corridor extension would terminate at Chingola in neighboring Copperbelt Province, but feeder roads would channel Northwestern Province's output toward Atlantic ports. Forest cover remains extensive, and conservation efforts clash with mining expansion. The 2024 drought affected hydroelectric power generation, forcing mines to import electricity and demonstrating infrastructure constraints that limit production even when copper prices rise. Unlike the old Copperbelt's century-old company towns, Northwestern Province's mining economy is young enough that path dependencies remain malleable. By 2026, the question is whether Northwestern Province develops the institutions and infrastructure to capture mining wealth locally, or whether extraction repeats colonial patterns with updated corporate actors.