page_title: Bwana Mkubwa
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Bwana Mkubwa / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Malachite Locality: Bwana M'Kubwa Mine (Bwana M'Kubina Mine), Ndola, Copperbelt Province, Zambia (Locality at mindat.org) Size: 10.9 x 8.4 x 6.2 cm. A rare, old-time piece from a very much less well-known locale in Zambia - the Bwana M’Kubwa Mine. This classic, fine, cabinet specimen has two vugs filled with banded, botryoidal to elongated malachite formations. The open pit copper mine started before WWI and closed in 1984. This specimen was collected by Sam Gordon on the Fourth Vaux-Academy Expedition in 1929-30 for the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences. This is the same expedition, where Sam Gordon found the incredible azurite pocket at Tsumeb. Comes with the Philadelphia Academy label. Ex. Philadelphia Academy of Sciences Collection. Deutsch: Malachit Fundort: Bwana M'Kubwa Mine (Bwana M'Kubina Mine), Ndola, Copperbelt, Sambia (Fundort bei mindat.org) Größe: 10.9 x 8.4 x 6.2 cm.
context_page_description: Bwana Mkubwa is a settlement and a mine in Copperbelt Province, Zambia. It is the oldest mine in Zambia's Copperbelt region. As a settlement with no municipal status, it became a locale due to the abundant copper deposits found in the area.
context_section_description: Early years
  The copper ore workings at Bwana Mkubwa are ancient. There is historical evidence of the mining operations conducted as early as the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries and also in subsequent centuries in Bwana Mkubwa and other Copperbelt areas such as Kansanshi and Kipushi, which aroused the interest of mining explorers from Europe.
  Opened in 1902, Bwana Mkubwa is the oldest mine in the Copperbelt region of Zambia. It was discovered by the Rhodesia Copper company. The Bwana Mkubwa Copper Mining Company, registered in London, formed in 1910. In 1916, the Susman brothers offered their Nkana copper claims to Bwana Mkubwa but the offer was rejected.
  Following the end of World War I, in 1918 the Bwana Mkubwa Copper Mining Company embarked on a massive programme of investigating the possibility of extracting copper from low grade ores using a flotation process. For this purpose, they engaged Mineral Separation Agency, a London-based firm, a specialized agency in this field with many patents to their credit on the subject. What ensued was installation of a new processing technique known as "Perkins Process" for handling low grade copper (4.25% copper) with capacity to handle 1000 tons of ore per day; the estimated copper reserve was 3.7 million tons. The work started from 1922. However, the extraction process, other techniques adopted for assessment of copper percentage from the ore using substituted samples of malachite (which did not exist in investigated locations) proved disastrous to the company which suffered losses  in the initial years of processing. Eventually this resulted in closure of the mines in April 1931. The company was sold to "The Rhodesian Congo Border Concession Ltd.", and which came under the control of Rhokhana Corporation. It investigated better sites in the Copperbelt from 1952 onwards which resulted in the Bwana Mkubwa getting into prominence as a copper mining area.
  20th century
  Bwana Mkubwa was recapitalized in 1922 on the strength of a series of experiments made on the ore by Minerals Separation Ltd, In the late 1920s Ernest Oppenheimer prevented the Americans from dominating the Northern Rhodesian mining industry.
  In the 1950s people casualties were taken to Bwana Mkubwa for medical treatment.
  The copper processing plant was built in 1998, at a cost of approximately $30 million. It was originally constructed as a five-year life short-term plant with a capacity of 10,000 tonnes/year of finished copper.
  2000s
  In 2002, the mining facility was expanded and the mine produced of 11,878 tonnes of copper cathode as well as 88,198 tonnes of sulphuric acid. The Bwana Mkubwa SX-EW plant reportedly posted a 77% decrease in output to 5851 tonnes of copper cathode in 2008 from 25402 tonnes in 2007.
  In October 2008, operations were suspended and the plant was placed on care and maintenance. The closure of the mine had a negative social and economic impact socially on 400 employees. In January 2010, First Quantum Minerals (FQM) restarted the Bwana Mkubwa's copper SX/EW (solvent extraction and electrowinning) plant to process stockpiled ore from the depleted Lonshi mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This was as a result of reopening of the border between Zambia and Congo. FQM has also initiated action to finding additional sites to feed its processing plants. In 2010, they anticipated that their new operations would result in a production of about 800 tons of copper cathodes per month. The original tailings facility of the plant was founded to process is long since exhausted. However, by August 2010, FQM announced it had run out of raw materials and would be closing the mine.
  While pursuing suitable additional sites for feeding its copper processing plants, FQM's operations at the Bwana Mkubwa plant using solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX/EW) processing plant began with a positive note of anticipated  production of about 800 tonnes of copper cathode per month, till end of 2010. This was as a result of recent re-opening of the border between the Zambia and Congo, which enabled the company t
caption: Citation of location of the sample of Malachite found in open cast mine in Bwana Mkubwa
exif: {}