As a consequence the overall demand for copper may decline or at best grow at a slower rate. As a consequence of demand changes and improvements in technology enabling supply to increase, the market price of copper has declined The reliance on copper mining and refining has created many environmental problems such as air and water pollution that has a serious impact on the health of people living in the vicinity of mines and smelters. A long-term downward movement in prices of copper means that the revenue and profitability of copper producing firms also decline. This has a number of negative effects on development. The impact on economic development Firms attempting to cut their costs will make workers redundant increasing the already high level of unemployment and resulting poverty.
Foreign firms are less likely to invest in the industry.
There is no strong incentive to invest in more environmentally desirable smelting and processing techniques. The inflows of foreign currency from exports are reduced thus worsening Zambia's balance of payments and debt situation. The irony is that the level of copper consumption in Zambia itself is small. Yet their economy is so dependent upon its fortunes in the world markets. The minerals are produced almost entirely for export and traded on volatile international commodity markets over which they have little if any control.