Zambia wants more from its copper boom than rising production figures, with President Hakainde Hichilema pressing mining companies to put more business, jobs and money into the hands of Zambians.
The message is especially significant for UAE-backed Mopani Copper Mines, one of the assets Zambia is counting on as it tries to lift annual copper production to three million tonnes by 2031.
For Lusaka, the calculation is becoming increasingly clear. Foreign investment remains essential to expanding production, but simply digging more copper out of the ground will not be enough. The government wants more of the money generated around those mines to stay in Zambia.
Zambia wants more spending at home
Hichilema drove home that point during a late-September working visit to Abu Dhabi, where he met International Resources Holding (IRH) chief executive Ali Rashed Alrashdi.
State House reported the Mopani talks on September 28, 2026, during what it described as the President’s two-day working visit to the United Arab Emirates.
According to Zambia’s State House, Hichilema told Alrashdi that Mopani would be crucial to the country’s copper ambitions.
But his message was not just about tonnes of copper.
The President also urged mining companies to fully implement Zambia’s Local Content law so that more Zambians can participate in and benefit from the industry.
Those requirements now have legal weight.
Statutory Instrument No. 68 of 2025 came into force on January 1, 2026, and requires mining companies to steadily increase the share of core goods and services they buy from qualifying local suppliers.
The Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development says the regulations are intended to make sure Zambia’s mineral wealth creates more opportunities for businesses and workers at home.
For core mining goods and services, companies must direct at least 20 percent of procurement spending to qualifying local suppliers within the first six months of the regime.
That threshold rises to 25 percent after 12 months, 35 percent after 24 months and at least 40 percent from the fifth year onwards.
Qualifying non-core mining goods and services are reserved entirely for local companies.
In practical terms, Zambia is saying that a bigger copper industry must also produce a bigger Zambian mining-services industry.
That raises a more complicated question: when a mining company says it spends locally, who actually receives the money?
Mopani offers a useful example.
IRH says 80 percent of Mopani’s procurement spending in 2025 flowed through the Zambian economy, amounting to $685m.
But the breakdown tells a more interesting story.
According to the company, $311m went to locally owned Zambian businesses, while $374m went to foreign-owned companies registered in Zambia.
That difference helps explain why the government is pushing harder on local content.
A company can be registered and operating in Zambia without necessarily being Zambian-owned. Lusaka increasingly wants local procurement to mean more than having a local address. It wants Zambian businesses building capacity and winning a bigger share of mining contracts.
Mopani carries big expectations.
There is a reason Hichilema is putting particular emphasis on Mopani.
IRH acquired a 51 percent stake in the company in 2024, while state-controlled ZCCM Investments Holdings retained the remaining 49 percent.
The deal was intended to breathe new life into one of Zambia’s most important copper operations after years of uncertainty and underinvestment.
IRH says it has invested more than $1.1bn in Mopani since 2024 and is targeting annual copper production of 300,000 tonnes by 2029.
If it gets there, Mopani would make a sizeable contribution to the government’s national target.
Africa Briefing has previously reported on Zambia’s drive to produce three million tonnes of copper a year by 2031, an ambition that will require major investment across some of the country’s biggest mines.
Copper demand is being driven by expanding electricity grids, electric vehicles, renewable energy systems and data centres.
For Zambia, however, the bigger question is no longer simply how much copper it can produce. It is how much of the wealth surrounding that production can remain in the country.
