First Quantum hands over aerial geological survey of Copperbelt to Zambian govt
TSX-listed copper miner First Quantum Minerals (FQM) has handed over a complete aerial geological survey of the Copperbelt to the Zambian government.
The survey, which was handed over to Zambia Mines and Mineral Development Minister Paul Kabuswe during a ceremony hosted by President Hakainde Hichilema, was entirely funded by FQM.
The survey addresses the lack of comprehensive documentation of the region’s mineral wealth, despite over a century of mining operations.
The airborne geophysical data, which is available through the government’s Geological Survey Department, is the first step in the lengthy investment process of ongoing exploration, FQM said on January 28.
The company said it believed the survey would help stimulate the Zambian mining and exploration sector.
"It's a serious indictment on us as a country, as a people. One cannot exploit or manage resources that you don't understand properly. Even if you know the Copperbelt has a mineral endowment, where exactly is it? How deep is it? And how do you then package projects?
“I think this has been an anomaly for a long, long time. That's why this government took this decision shortly after being favoured by the people of Zambia to serve them,” Hichilema said at the handover ceremony at the State House in Lusaka.
“Zambia has been having a conversation around the need to develop opportunities for exploration, to develop a pathway towards its target of producing three-million tonnes of copper a year, and around Zambia continuing as a cornerstone of copper mining. The key to that is exploration,” FQM CEO Tristan Pascall added.
In August 2023, Hichilema launched a countrywide high-resolution aerial geophysical survey aimed at providing the government with information on the mineral endowment in all the ten provinces.
Furnished with this new data, Kabuswe revealed that consultations were under way to determine which areas of the Copperbelt, if any, were still to be covered by the National Geological Minerals Mapping survey.
FQM exploration manager Jon Stacey said that, since the survey data was being handed over to the government through its Geological Survey Department, mining rights holders would now be provided with the data they needed.
“There was a need to generate new regional data to assist with exploration, in line with government’s three-million-tonne strategy. So we did this in the area that would have the most impact, which is why we chose the Copperbelt,” he explained.
FQM has also made several investments in local infrastructure, renewable energy and community development programmes.
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