US$122 million for Kalulushi: the ZDA signs a protection agreement with Rongxing to double a cathode plant, as the Mines PS says existing mines cannot deliver three million tonnes

The week's mining paperwork ended with a signature. The Zambia Development Agency and Rongxing Investment Limited signed an investment promotion and protection agreement worth US$122 million, the Zambia Daily Mail and the Times of Zambia reported on Friday 23 October. The Daily Mail dates the signing to Thursday 22 October.

Rongxing, which the Daily Mail describes as a subsidiary of Jinxun and the Times of Zambia as owned by Jinxun Resources Company and Shanghai Jinxun New Energy Company Limited, has operated in the Sabina area on the Mufulira road in Kalulushi for a decade, processing copper ore into cathodes and concentrates. The US$122 million is a total of past and future spending: US$42 million already invested in its first two plants since 2016, US$30 million now going into a third plant, and more than US$50 million earmarked for acquiring mining assets and developing resources. The expansion uses solvent extraction–electrowinning and hydrometallurgical processes and is intended to lift cathode output from 5,500 to 10,000 tonnes a year. The company employs 506 people and expects the expansion to add 194 direct jobs, taking the workforce to 700.

Today's signing demonstrates Zambia's steadfast commitment to supporting private investment.
— Albert Halwampa, Director General of the Zambia Development Agency, at the signing ceremony, as reported by the Zambia Daily Mail

The Times of Zambia quotes the chairperson of Jinxun Resources, Yuan Rong, describing the agreement as a sign of the company's confidence in Zambia and saying it had "integrated local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) into our supply chains" and intends to build an integrated value chain "from mine to smelter" inside the country. Halwampa, for his part, urged the company to look at the electric-vehicle battery industry and said Zambia should position itself as a manufacturing hub for vehicles, batteries and components.

The arithmetic behind the target

The agreement was signed in the same week as the Zambia Mining and Investment Insaka in Lusaka, where the Government's three-million-tonnes-a-year copper target by 2031 was examined from several angles. News Diggers reports that on Thursday 22 October the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development, Dr Hapenga Kabeta, told delegates that expanding production at existing mines would not, on its own, get the country there: substantial growth must come from new projects, including greenfield developments, and exploration should be treated as the foundation on which future output depends. He said the national geophysical survey is 97 per cent complete and should be finished by December. The ZDA's IPPA, which protects an investor's position against changes in the rules, is one of the instruments the Government uses to attract that new money; it does not by itself add a tonne of production.

Sources: Zambia Daily Mail, “ZDA inks $122m Kalulushi copper deal” (23 Oct 2026); Times of Zambia, “ZDA, Rongxing sign $122m copper deal” (23 Oct 2026); News Diggers, “Existing mines can't meet copper target, we need new projects – Govt” (23 Oct 2026).