Table Of Content"Although previous calculations had estimated that Zambia's copper will
be exhausted by 2020, thanks to new technologies it is now estimated
that there is enough copper that can be mined profitably until almost the
end of the present century. Hence, notwithstanding current attempts at
diversification of the economy away from mining, Zambia's mining sec
tor, including copper, cobalt, and gem stones, will continue to act as a
principal engine of growth and development for quite some time to come.
This reader provides comprehensive coverage of the historical, economic,
political, social, and technological issues relating to mining in Zambia. It
makes for compelling reading for students of development and compul
sory reading for those interested in Zambia's mining sector."
-Venkatesh Seshamani, Professor of Economics,
University of Zambia
"This excellent collection will alternately enrage the reader with its docu
mentation of the astoundingly unfair conditions of the privatization of
Zambia's copper mines-which have so far succeeded in preventing any
fair distribution of the economic benefits of the post-2004 boom in cop
per prices-and bring hope with its insightful accounts of the determined
struggles by Zambian people to change this iniquitous situation. This
book is a wonderful contribution to the rich literature on the Zambian
Copperbelt which has for so long been a testing ground for the complex
inter-relationships between mineral-dependent economic growth, global
forces, internal development trajectories, and political and social change
in developing countries."
-Deborah Potts, Cities Research Group,
Geography Department, King's College London
"Zambia's copper mines are back in business ... in a very different world
with an increasing variety of capitalisms. Zambia now has to relate to the
BRICs and not the NAM; to a China of the Olympics rather than Tazara.
But the developmental vision of such novel resource governance remains
almost as problematic as when Cecil Rhodes had a dream. A new, engaged
generation of analysts examine local to global prospects at the turn of
another decade and era."
-Timothy M. Shaw, Professor and Director,
Institute of International Relations at
The University of the West Indies
"The scholarly research that has gone into this book shows the critical
importance for Africa to secure control over both its natural resources
and the financial, managerial, and technological support structure to
harness those resources. The moral of the story behind Zambia's copper
industry is that if assistance is needed from outside, it must not be part of
a donor-driven aid package."
-Yash Tandon, author of Ending Aid Dependence
"So-called policy reform in Zambia, driven by the World Bank and the
IMF, was a scandal that deindustrialized the economy, impoverished the
Copperbelt, and fostered rampant corruption. Fraser and Larmer's
Zambia, Mining and Neoliberalism offers the definitive analysis of this
sorry tale."
-John Weeks, Professor Emeritus, SOAS, University of London
"Fraser and Larmer's book Zambia, Mining and Neoliberalism: Boom
and Bust in the Globalized Copperbelt is perhaps one of the best books
to be written on the Zambian copper industry in the last four decades.
This collection of essays analyzes the contemporary political economy of
Zambia's copper industry and locates the struggles for the control of the
country's mineral wealth within the context of globalized capitalism.
Rich in empirical detail, this book provides a fresh theorization of the
problems faced by resource-dependent economies in negotiating favor
able terms from their mineral wealth when faced with pressures from
foreign multinationals on one hand and local communities on the other,
under an uncertain international economic environment. This is a
remarkable, ground-breaking contribution to the literature on African
development in general and mining development in particular, as it uses
the Zambian case to illustrate the difficult choices that political leaders
have to make and the pressures they face in trying to realize realistic
returns from mineral wealth. It should be essential reading for anyone
who wants to understand how global capitalism impacts the negotiating
power of resource-rich developing countries and how mineral price vola
tility has constrained the space for political leaders to extract attractive
concessions from multinational corporations with negative effects to
their populations."
-Neo Simutanyi, Executive Director,
Centre for Policy Dialogue, Lusaka, Zambia
"This uncommonly tight, timely, and intellectually sharp volume sets the
recent history of boom and bust in the Zambian mining economy in a
longer historical timeframe. Its key contribution lies in demonstrating
precisely why neo-liberal orthodoxies have served Zambia so poorly."
-Paul Nugent, Professor of Comparative African History,
University of Edinburgh
Zambia, Mining, and Neoliberalism
AFRICA CONNECTS
Garth Myers (University of Kansas) and Martin J. Murray (University of
Michigan), Series Jiditors
This scholarly series stands at the intersection of globalization and develop
ment studies, examining the social, political, and economic effects of these
processes on the African continent. For advocates and critics alike, global
ization and development are inescapable "facts of life" that define the param
eters of social action not just in Africa but throughout the world. Yet while
academic debates and policy discussions careen between praise and criticism,
too little attention is given to how these processes actually operate in African
settings. Rather than simply reacting to the mainstream scholarly literature,
books in this series seek to creatively engage with contemporary debates as a
way of developing new perspectives that establish and analyze the linkages
between globalization and development.
PUBLISHED BY PALGRAVE MACMILLAN:
Encountering the Nigerian State
Edited by Wale Adebanwi and Ebenezer Obadare
Zambia, Mining, and Neoliberalism: Boom and Bust on the Globalized
Copperbelt
Edited by Alastair Fraser and Miles Larmer
Zambia, Mining, and Neoliberalism
Boom and Bust on the Globalized
Copperbelt
Edited by
Alastair Fraser and Miles Larmer
pal grave
macmillan
* ZAMBIA, MINING, AND NEOLIBERALISM
Copyright© Alastair Fraser and Miles Larmer, 2010.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-10498-3
All rights reserved.
First published in 2010 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States-a division of St. Martin's Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and
has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the
United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-28944-8 ISBN 978-0-230-11559-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230115590
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Zambia, mining, and neoliberalism : boom and bust on the
globalized copperbelt I edited by Alastair Fraser, Miles Larmer.
p. cm.-(Africa connects)
1. Copper industry and trade-Zambia. 2. Zambia-Economic
conditions-1964-1. Fraser, Alastair, 1974-11. Larmer, Miles.
HD9539.C7Z339 2010
338.2' 74 3096894-dc22 2010022458
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: December 2010
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Transferred to Digital Printing 2013
Contents
Acknowledgments IX
Abbreviations Xlll
Map of Zambia XVI
International Copper Prices-Figures XV!l
Contributors XIX
1. Introduction: Boom and Bust on the Zambian
Copperbelt 1
Alastair Fraser
2. Historical Perspectives on Zambia's Mining Booms
and Busts 31
Miles Larmer
3. The Economics of the Copper Price Boom in Zambia 59
Christopher S. Adam and Anthony M. Simpasa
4. From Boom to Bust: Diversity and Regulation in Zambia's
Privatized Copper Sector 91
Dan Haglund
5. Raw Encounters: Chinese Managers, African Workers, and
the Politics of Casualization in Africa's Chinese Enclaves 127
Ching Kwan Lee
6. African Miners and Shape-Shifting Capital Flight:
The Case of Luanshya/Baluba 155
]an-Bart Gewald and Sebastiaan Soeters
7. Contesting Illegality: Women in the Informal
Copper Business 185
Patience Mususa
v111 Contents
8. The Mining Boom, Capital, and Chiefs in the
"New Copperbelt" 209
Rohit Negi
9. Conclusion: Mining, Dispossession, and Transformation
in Africa 237
Ray Bush
Bibliography 269
Index 287
Acknowledgments
In 2006 Fr. Misheck Kaunda of the Catholic Commission for Justice,
Development and Peace (CCJDP) in Ndola, Zambia, proposed a study of
the impacts of the privatisation of Zambia's copper mines on the com
munities in which he worked. Although his parishioners suffered from
low wages, insecure employment, terrible local amenities, and a despoiled
environment, a boom since 2004 in the long-depressed global market
price of copper meant that international mining companies were making
huge profits by exploiting Zambia's deposits.
Father Kaunda, staff at the Civil Society Trade Network of Zambia
(CSTNZ) in Lusaka, and Kato Lambrechts at Christian Aid in London
developed terms of reference for a study. They commissioned one of the
editors of this collection, Dr. Alastair Fraser (Cambridge University), and
Prof. John Lungu (Copperbelt University) to research and write it, and
the report was published in Lusaka in January 2007 under the title For
Whom the Windfalls? Winners and Losers in the Privatisation of
Zambia's Copper Mines.
Largely because it unearthed and published secret "Development
Agreements" in which the government guaranteed mining companies
very favorable terms of investment, the report had a major political
impact within Zambia. Citizens for a Better Environment, CCJDP,
CSTNZ, the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, the Mineworkers
Union of Zambia, the National Union of Miners and Allied Workers, and
the Zambian Confederation of Trade Unions led local campaigns on the
issues raised by the report. They received invaluable support from three
campaign groups based in the United Kingdom: Action for Southern
Africa, Christian Aid, and the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund
(SCIAF). The report and the Development Agreements were then made
available on a new website: www.minewatchzambia.com.
The site hosted Dr. Fraser's blog, which updated a growing Zambian
and international readership on responses to the report and other devel
opments in the Zambian mining sector. It also sparked a number of
researchers working on the Copperbelt to contact the author, and with
