Zambia is a landlocked country located in Central Africa. It has an abundance of natural resources some of which include uranium, silver, cobalt, coal, copper and cobalt. It is internationally recognized for the production of copper as well as cobalt and is one sector that provides employment and foreign exchange to the country at large. However, Environmental impacts from mining operations are significant and quite often severe as there is a lack of adequate management in the sector.
Mining is considered as one of the most important economic activities which have the ability of enhancing the development of the nation. However, the major concern attached to it is the environmental impacts it has on surrounding communities. Even though mining activities contribute to the economic development of Zambia, environmental experts and some of the general public strongly believe that the benefits derived from the mining sector are achieved at noteworthy environmental, health and social costs to the country at large.
According to Down and Stock (1997), mining is the extraction of minerals from the earth’s crust by the aid of man. Mining is also defined as the selective recovery of minerals and materials, other than recently formed organic materials from the crust of the earth (Encarta, 2005).
Mining has significant economic contribution to the development of the Country. Some of the benefits derived from mining include but not limited to, job creation, infrastructure development, foreign exchange generation as well as increase in government revenue. Mining is extremely important for human development as it creates wealth (Acheampong, 2004).
Majority of the beneficiaries of mining employment is rather small and are concentrated in the Copperbelt. Another benefit derived from mining is local infrastructure and social infrastructure in the Copperbelt which was initially provided by the mining firms. Therefore, it is safe to state that mines are generally responsible for creating social infrastructure such as housing, schools, clinics, roads, water supplies as well as for providing social services for their employees including their families.
Furthermore, the mining industry not only links other sectors in the economy by purchasing a collection of inputs but also provides a country with foreign exchange needed in order to pay for its imports and to service its foreign debt. Last but not the least; government revenue is generated through mining activities. (OSISA et al, 2009).
It is saddening to note that there are many historical mining sites in Zambia and these cause environmental problems. For instance, Residents of Makululu and Kasanda Mine Compounds in Kabwe suffer the effects of lead contamination. This is because before the closure of the mines in 1994, mining was the main source of income for the people of Kabwe (ZCCM-IH PLC, 1995). This resulted in majority of the mine workers becoming unemployed and the joint aid previously provided by the firm practically ended. The aforementioned led to some people scavenging of metals on old dumpsites, vandalising historical structures as well as illegally allocating themselves land near mine area. This led to dereliction of land through erosion, water pollution due to unmanaged waste, air pollution and failure to restore land mined (ECZ, 2
Consequently, residents of Kabwe have built permanent structures for human habitation very close to the waterway and also close to dumpsites within lead contaminated areas. They also use contaminated water for gardening, swimming as well as for bathing from the water canals. Even during rainy season, most of the gardens are watered using water from the waterway .Other residents use the very water for domestic purposes and this therefore increases their exposure to lead pollutant (ECZ, 2000).
All countries that rely on natural resources face the challenge of taxation. Determining tax levels and also administering tax revenues in a way that is both effective and also balances the needs of both the Government as well as the investors. Mining diminishes valuable natural asset and so taxing the mining companies is an excellent way of producing savings that can be redistributed to increase the productive capacity of the rest of the economy (World Bank, 2011).
According to Gilmore and Grattan (2000), some environmental impact of mining includes soil erosion, formation of sinkholes as well as loss of biodiversity. Furthermore, there is contamination of soil, groundwater as well as surface water by chemicals from mining processes. For instance, the mining operations on the Coppertbelt are within the Kafue River. The Kafue River and its branches are also used for irrigation as well as providing local communities with fish. Metal discharge from the mine negatively affects biodiversity and changes species composition in streams. Apart from initiating environmental problems, the pollution resulting from leakage of chemicals into river also greatly affects the health of the local population. Hugely subsidizing the mining sector can indirectly cause destruction and disturbance of ecosystems as well as habitats.
In areas where farming practiced mining activities may disturb or destroy productive grazing and croplands.
Furthermore, mining can pollute soils over a large area affecting agricultural activities particularly in affected areas. According to a study conducted by the European Union, it was discovered that mining processes usually change the surrounding landscape by exposing formerly uninterrupted earthen materials.
It can be noted that economic growth is directly linked to the environment because most economic activities are done at the expense of the environment. Therefore, for mining activities to be carried out, the environment is at a loss and this result in the degrading of the land, damaging it to the point that it is difficult and sometimes impossible for other economic activities like farming to take place. Due to poorly managed environmental impacts from mining, specific concerns pertaining mine waste disposal facilities which still have serious biophysical environmental impact are raised. Other concerns include that of air and water contamination resulting from mining activities carried out. This can lead into negative externality which is; a cost that is suffered by a third party as a result of an economic transaction. In a contract, the producer and consumer are the first and second parties respectively, and the third parties include individual, organisation, property owner, or resource that is indirectly affected. A negative externality can also be regarded as an external cost. In this situation, externalities such as waste emissions of polluted substances arise from the mining industries in almost all the process.
The Zambia copper mine (ZCM) explains that, mining is the most energy demanding industry worldwide. Additionally, it can be noticed that even though the global mining industry has become highly programmed through advanced technology and machinery, it still hires huge amounts of highly skilled people. Electricity as well as labour are the most significant features in the cost structure of the average Zambian copper mine. This simply goes on to show that even small increases in the aforementioned two components can have an effect on a mine’s overall cost as well as structure and can push a mine from profitability into loss virtually overnight.
A lot has been said by the public about Zambia’s mineral tax reforms. The main aim has been to improve revenue benefits derived from the mines but this has not yielded the desired results. It can be mainly accredited to the pathetic scheme of its legislated mineral taxation systems. The government framework that controls the mining sectors environmental agreements is centred on Zambia environmental management agency (ZEMA). The agency not only approves mining projects by means of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure, issues environmental permits but is also responsible for auditing. The main law governing the mining sector in Zambia is the mines and minerals development act no. 11 of 2015 of the laws of Zambia. The mining industry is administered by the ministry of mines development which was formerly called ministry of mines, energy and water development.
According to the information provided above, the costs of carrying out mining activities outweigh the benefits derived. This is the case as the environment is being degraded and there is no proper management of the toxic emissions in the atmosphere. Besides this, the economy of the country is not very stable. If at all the benefits were to outweigh the costs that would be clearly seen from the economic growth.













REFERENCES
Blodgett, S (2002). Underground Hard Rock: Subsidence and Hydrologic Environmental Impacts. Bozeman, M.T.
Galvin, M., (2016). Mine Wastes (Vol. 4). Germany: Springer.
Gilmore, G. and Grattan, J.P. (2000). An exploration of the environmental impact of metal mining. Journal of archaeological science.
Kabamba Matthews. Daily Mail Magazine, 26 September, 2017. Lusaka, Zambia.
Mustafa K. (2015). Applied Mineral Economics Valuation, Decision Making and Risk Analysis. Delhi Publishers.