Introduction
Tour Itinerary
Destinations
Kitwe
Chingola
Mufulira
Issues
Theories
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Home Field Trips Copper Tour

Copper Tour

When you switch on the lights in your house there is a good chance that the wiring that transmits the electricity is made from copper. Some of that copper will come from the mines of Zambia.

The purpose of this trip is really two-fold. The trip will take you into the heart of the Copper belt in Northern Zambia. You will visit the mines and see the copper being extracted and refined and go on to consider the impact of this essential industry on the economy.

For many LDCs a substantial proportion of the country's export earnings is from the production and processing of primary commodities such as copper. Zambia is an extreme example of an economy predominantly dependent on one industry. On this field trip you will see the problems arising from this dependence and how the government and the business community is reacting.

One such impact of the economic growth that occurred with the exploitation of copper was the rapid growth of cities and towns such as Kitwe, Ndola and Chingola. The second focus will take you to the Mwambe shanty town in Mufulira to look at some of the economic problems associated with the urbanisation resulting from the growth of the copper industry.

The route on this tour takes you around:

• Kitwe - the hub of the Copperbelt
• Chingola - the largest open cast mine in Africa
• Mufulira - Muambe shanty town

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Related to this field trip are the following pages that you may like to look at before starting the tour:

• Introduction
• Introduction to Industrial and Urban Issues
• Tour Itinerary
• Theory
• Resources

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As you follow the trip through you will find out about the issues faced by each area of the copperbelt. To jump to different points on the tour you can use the navigation bar on the left. There are also links to the economic theory related to each issue.