Inside Mimbula Minerals

Mimbula Minerals Limited, a subsidiary of Moxico Resources Plc, is continuing its rapid growth journey as one of Zambia’s emerging copper producers. In the first half of 2026, the Chingola-based mine recorded progress in production expansion, workforce development, safety, environmental management, and community investment.

With Phase Two set to increase annual production capacity from 10,000 to 56,000 tonnes, Mimbula is positioning itself to contribute significantly to Zambia’s copper production ambitions while maintaining a strong focus on employee welfare, responsible mining, and sustainable community development.

BY EPHRAIM MUFAYA

Mimbula Minerals Limited, a subsidiary of UK-based Moxico Resources Plc, continues to position itself as one of Zambia’s fastest-growing copper producers. During the first half of 2026, the company recorded strong progress across operations, workforce development, and community engagement, painting a picture of a young but rapidly expanding mine determined to balance growth with responsibility.

Leadership Focused on Discipline and Care

Company leaders have been vocal about the values driving Mimbula’s growth. Chief Operating Officer Theo Silver says productivity is not just about producing more. It’s about doing things better, safer, and together. He points to equipment reliability and staff empowerment as key to the company’s next stage of growth.

Board Director Davis Mwanamoya looks at things from a governance angle. He says productivity cannot be separated from strong Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practice. Growth, he says, should never come at the cost of safety or community trust.

Public Relations Officer Ian Chitu Chomba echoes this commitment to transparency and shared ownership of the company’s results, while the mine has also drawn praise from industry observers for its safety culture and its role in Zambia’s mining growth.

Rewarding the Workforce

Among the standout developments is a 12% salary increment for unionised employees, the fourth consecutive annual increase since 2022 agreed during 2025 collective bargaining talks with the Mine Workers Union of Zambia, the National Union of Miners and Allied Workers, and the Miners, Technicians, Artisans and Allied Workers Union of Zambia.

The new package, effective November 2025, includes an enhanced education allowance, an improved funeral grant, and a 13th cheque awarded in December. Union leaders praised the deal as a model of progressive labour relations, while management linked the increment to the company’s broader commitment to Zambia’s national target of 3 million tonnes of annual copper production by 2031.

In other HR news, Eng. Joseph Milambo was confirmed as Mine Manager after rising through the company’s ranks. Group HR Manager Peter Chishika was also named a Fellow of the Zambia Institute of Human Resource Management, the institute’s highest honour.

The company also bid farewell to Accountant Eveness Pulantila, who left after three years of service, and paid tribute to Eddie Mfunda, an employee who died in a mine accident, with management reaffirming its commitment to safety and to supporting his family.

Expansion on Track

Much of Mimbula’s story this year is one of growth. Phase One of the mine, commissioned in 2023 by President Hakainde Hichilema, established a 10,000 tonnes-per-annum heap leach and solvent extraction/electrowinning (SX/EW) plant.

The company is now well into Phase Two, a US$250 million expansion that will lift annual production capacity to 56,000 tonnes, supported by a US$50 million streaming agreement with Ecora Resources and targeted for completion by the end of 2026.

A further Phase Three, focused on cobalt recovery from an estimated 38.6-million-tonne resource, is currently under a bankable feasibility study.

Progress is already visible: production from a new Multipurpose Gyratory began in July 2025, with October 2025 recording the year’s highest output 289,724 tons of agglomerated material and 1,667 tons of copper. The company’s workforce has grown to approximately 1,700 employees, reflecting the scale of the expansion under way.

Safety as a Core Value

Safety remains central to how Mimbula operates. The company has made improvements in sanitation and pest control since full operations began in 2021, including bait-station rodent control and an Indoor Residual Spraying program to combat malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

The mine workshop, often described as “the heart of the mine,” continues to keep equipment reliable and available thanks to its maintenance teams.

The company has also sponsored five Safety, Health and Environment officers through specialised firefighting training in Kabwe, procured a fire tender truck, and rolled out a strict “no cell phone use on site” policy designed to reduce distraction-related accidents.

Fortnightly mass safety meetings chaired by General Manager Jason Pitchford reinforce what the company calls a “zero tolerance for unsafe acts” culture.

A joint inspection by the Ministry of Green Economy and Environment and the Zambia Environmental Management Authority also commended Mimbula’s environmental restoration efforts, including rehabilitated tailings ponds.

Investing in Community

Beyond the mine gate, Mimbula continues to invest visibly in Chingola. A women’s empowerment program run with the Business Development Center Zambia has now trained more than 700 women in entrepreneurship and business skills.

The company was a Gold Sponsor of the Chingola Business Forum on local content law compliance, received commendation from the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants for regulatory compliance and student sponsorship, and invested over US$20,000 in athletics development in 2025, including sponsorship of the Chingola Independence Marathon.

Its football teams, the Mineral Boys and Amazon Girls, remain a visible symbol of the company’s youth development commitment, with the Mineral Boys recently earning promotion to the Copperbelt Division 3.

A Company on the Rise

Taken together, these developments tell one clear story. Mimbula is still a young mine, but it is growing fast. It is working to raise production from 10,000 to 56,000 tonnes a year, while staying focused on safety, fair treatment of workers, and real investment in its community.

As Mimbula works toward Zambia’s national copper goals, its leaders want to show that growth can happen the right way, captured in the company’s own guiding principle: “My safety, your safety, our responsibility.”