Zambia’s plan to mine three million tonnes of copper a year came up against the question of what to do with the waste at the Zambia Mining and Investment Insaka this week. Elite Mhone, Director of Mine Inspections and Audits at the Minerals Regulation Commission, told a plenary session that the country’s tailings dam management and safety standards remain inadequate, Lusaka Times reported on Wednesday 21 October. Tailings facilities, unlike water dams, keep growing as waste accumulates, he said, and heavier rainfall under a changing climate raises the risk of failure.
The size of rainfall we receive now is not the same as rainfall that was being received in 1964.
— Elite Mhone, Director of Mine Inspections and Audits, Minerals Regulation Commission, at the Mining and Investment Insaka in Lusaka, as reported by Lusaka Times
Mr Mhone called for stricter inspections, independent engineering oversight, a national tailings dam registry and greater accountability for operators. Constantino Mweembela, acting Director of Licensing and Compliance at the Zambia Environmental Management Agency, urged companies to invest in real-time monitoring, follow international tailings standards and work with communities on shared water, saying environmental impact assessments “must go beyond regulatory compliance”. Dr Chikusela Sikazwe of Seed Global Health asked that health be built into impact assessments from the start, to avoid duplicated or under-used clinics.
KCM’s pitch
At its exhibition stand, Konkola Copper Mines presented itself as committed to safe and sustainable mining. Sibongile Kanyungu, the company’s head hydrogeologist at No. 4 Shaft, told News Diggers that KCM has spent US$500 million on its Tailings Leach Plant and committed a further US$600 million, and described her own job as forecasting where underground water will be found and removing it before it endangers operations. The rest of her remarks sit behind the paper’s paywall.
A regional close
Lusaka Times also reports on a networking evening at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre at which Botswana’s Minister of Minerals and Energy, Bogolo Kenewendo, and the DRC’s Minister of Mines, Louis Kabamba, recommitted with Zambia to connected infrastructure and cross-border value chains — Ms Kenewendo calling for commitments to become “tangible projects”. Acting Minister of Mines Gilbert Siame said the gathering of more than 1,500 participants, which closes on Friday 23 October, should produce deals that serve the target of three million tonnes of copper a year by 2031.
Lusaka Brief reported the Botswana and DRC proposals, and the President’s ‘use it or lose it’ warning to licence-holders, in its edition of Wednesday 21 October.
Sources: Lusaka Times, “Government Prioritises Tailings Dam Safety” (21 Oct 2026); News Diggers, “We’re committed to safe, sustainable mining – KCM” (21 Oct 2026); Lusaka Times, “Zambia, Botswana, DRC Recommit To Strengthening Regional Cooperation” (21 Oct 2026).