IntroductionFootnote 1
More than one hundred monographs and books have been written about the history of mining in Zambia. Until the 1960s, most of them were based on the former Public Records Office collection, now The National Archives of Britain at Kew. After Zambia’s independence in 1964, considerable use was also made of the National Archives of Zambia (NAZ) in Lusaka. At the end of the 1970s, the United National Independence Party (UNIP) Archive supplemented the NAZ records. It was only with the opening of the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) Archive in 1982 and more recently those of the Mineworkers’ Union of Zambia Headquarters (MUZ HQ), that the records of the copper mining companies became widely available.
Archival creation in Zambia has been subject to political, economic and social transformations within the national, regional, and global context, which affected their accessibility and usage. During the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1953–1963), archival documents generated by the Northern Rhodesian Government were preserved in the Central African Archives, a joint archival institution established in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia.Footnote 2 Archival records, pertaining to the colonial period, were only repatriated to Lusaka after the end of the Federation.
In 1972, Zambia became a one-party-state under the UNIP. The history of the UNIP Archive coincides with the introduction of one-party-state rule.Footnote 3 Access to UNIP Archive was restricted to Party and Government officials as well as students willing to study and disseminate UNIP ideology of humanism. This made the UNIP Archive very unpopular among researchers until 1991. That year, Zambia returned to multi-party democracy, and UNIP was removed from power. The removal of UNIP from power opened the use of the Party’s confidential records, which were restricted, including internal government documents concerning the nationalization of the mining sector and the economy from 1968 to 1991.
The ZCCM Archive was established by the mining industry in 1982, following the merger of Nchanga Consolidated Copper Mines (NCCM) and Roan Consolidated Mines (RCM) into a single company, the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) Limited.Footnote 4 Before then, the two mines’ archives existed as separate entities bearing the names of their respective mining groups, RCM and NCCM.Footnote 5 Even so, researchers were able to draw freely on the records of the old Chamber of Mines, established in 1942, and its successor, the Copper Industry Service Bureau, created in 1965, which kept printed material of the copper industry as well as government publications in its library in Kitwe.
It is important to note that the holdings of the ZCCM Archive were generated on the spot by Copperbelt mining activities and outside the country where the head offices of the multinational mining companies were based. These multinationals were Anglo American Corporation (AAC), Selection Trust (ST), and American Metal Climax (AMAX), which owned the Copperbelt mines during the colonial and immediate postcolonial eras. Duplicate copies of the records generated in the metropole were sent to Zambia after independence. The imposition of one-party rule in Zambia and the complete nationalization of the country’s mining sector after 1982 had a significant impact on the management of the mining industry archives: all records generated by the mining companies were placed under joint archival management.
The MUZ, originally known as the African Mineworkers’ Union (AMU), was formed in 1949 to represent the interests of black workers. Record keeping at MUZ HQ began in 1973 when its Research Section was established.Footnote 6 Even so, none of MUZ’s files from the colonial period survives as a major fire in the 1970s destroyed them. Privatization of the mining industry after 1991 affected the organization of MUZ in several ways. Redundancies and retrenchments reduced mineworkers to destitution, while the membership of MUZ reduced dramatically. MUZ fragmented into separate trade unions, which have their own arrangements for the preservation of files. However, MUZ HQ has a significant amount of records in the form of correspondence papers and reports from new trade unions. MUZ HQ also has records of branch offices at individual mines.
Mwelwa Musambachime and Miles Larmer pointed out the difficulties of using these archives, as well as problems and challenges faced by these institutions between 1973 and 2003.Footnote 7 For instance, Musambachime noted that it was difficult for the public to access UNIP records, and “a number of procedures [had] to be observed [because the] archives was designed primarily to facilitate research for party functionaries.”Footnote 8 Additionally, researchers could only access UNIP documents covering the period up to 1973.Footnote 9 Larmer noted that “UNIP’s own records, which [could have been] as important a source for the 1970s and 1980s as the NAZ, [were] also not made available” as late as 2003.Footnote 10 Similarly, the ZCCM Archive lacked sufficient resources to process a vast backlog of unarchived files, while the MUZ HQ had no organized archive of its documents and failed to centralize records held by branch offices at individual mines.Footnote 11
However, conditions in these institutions have improved significantly in recent years. The NAZ and the ZCCM Archive have been equipped with air-conditioning facilities important for preserving records in humid subtropical climate. These archives have also made significant progress in processing the backlog of records. The NAZ is presently processing government records generated between 1973 and 1986. Between 2008 and 2011, the ZCCM Archive processed a backlog of documents held by individual mines, which are currently accessible to researchers. The records of UNIP have been updated to cover the period during the Second Republic (1973–1991), and the archive itself is now accessible by academic researchers. Similarly, the MUZ archives have been processed and catalogued.Footnote 12 The physical archive is located within the MUZ HQ at Katilungu House in Kitwe. Despite lacking air-conditioning equipment, the records of UNIP have been digitized,Footnote 13 while the digitization process at MUZ HQ began in 2018.
National Archives of Zambia (NAZ)
Many researchers have utilized records held in the National Archives of Zambia (NAZ) to examine some aspects of the European scramble for territories in Central Africa (1879–1899), colonial rule in Northern Rhodesia (1900–1963), as well as political, social, and economic transformations in the First Republic (1964–1972). Social scientists and labor historians whose studies have focused on the interaction of the colonial authorities, mine management, and workers, both African and European, who competed for a large share in the country’s copper wealth, were obliged to rely exclusively on the documents of the British South Africa Company (BSAC), Secretariat Series, and District Notebooks generated between 1890 and 1964.Footnote 14 While BSAC files, Secretariat series, and District Notebooks are a unique and valuable source of historical, economic, political, administrative, ethnographical, and anthropological information during the colonial era, they do not give much information on socio-relations and diversity of workers employed in various institutions. The events and issues contained in these documents are those that were formulated by the government administrators and company managers, the African dimension in the documentation is silent. Besides, these documents do not offer detailed insights into exploitation of land and mineral resources.
Such information can be sourced from alternative documents generated by the departments of mines, lands and labor also archived in the Collections Section of the NAZ. These records reconstructed after Zambian independence in 1964, are underutilized.Footnote 15 Class-marked ML, which stands for Ministry of Mines and Lands, these records cover the period during the colonial era and in the early years of independent Zambia (1895–1972). A significant number of these files feature geological survey reports generated between 1895 and 1959.Footnote 16 These reports are important in understanding the contribution of early prospectors to the discovery of minerals on the Northern Rhodesian Copperbelt and at Broken Hill (Kabwe) between 1895 and 1928. There is also an assortment of Land Settlement and Mines Department reports, which reveal general policies on mining land, housing, town planning, and provisioning of services in mine compounds between 1930 and 1972.Footnote 17 Broadly speaking, ML records provide us with a comprehensive understanding on legislation, regulation, ownership, and exploitation of land and mineral resources in Zambia in this period.
The records class-marked MLSS (Ministry of Labour and Social Services) cover the period between 1927 and 1972. In this collection, the vast range of files cover labor relations issues in all sectors, notably mining, railways, agriculture, construction, civil service, textile, manufacturing, and retail. The majority of these files are in the form of minutes and discussion notes of meetings and conferences organized locally, regionally, and internationally by various labor departments and trade unions. There are also reports, memos, and correspondence papers between the labor department, trade unions, reconciliation boards, as well as regional and international labor organizations interested in labor matters in the region, such as the International Labour Organization. Some documents are also in the form of agreements between specific trade unions and stakeholders of respective sectors. Additionally, these records are segmented systematically under certain labor policies such as industrial relations, conditions of service, legislation, recruitment and migration, organisation and administration, formation of trade unions and associations, labor disputes, labor statistics, African advancement and Zambianization.Footnote 18 Zambianization was a policy introduced by the government after independence, and was meant to replace expatriate European and foreign (alien) African workers by Zambians or locals in technical, managerial and supervisory positions in the mining and public sectors.Footnote 19
MLSS files offer extra ethnographical and anthropological information, which provide an important insight into the diversity of labor employed in the public and private sectors. Thus, by utilizing MLSS files it is possible to have a clear understanding of the similarities and differences in labor policies and conditions of service in the public and private sectors in general and mining and other sectors in particular. MLSS records also provide valuable answers to questions of industrialization and social transformation in rural and urban areas in colonial and early postcolonial Zambia. The records at the NAZ are well organized though majority of these cover the period up to 1972, the year of the introduction of one-party-state rule in Zambia. UNIP was conservative and restrictive in sending files generated by the Party and the government to the NAZ. As stated elsewhere above, the good news is that the Collections Section of the NAZ is currently being stocked with documents covering the period from 1973 to 1986. In any case, files with information on major political and economic transformations during the Second Republic (1973–1991) can be accessed from the UNIP Archive.
United National Independence Party (UNIP) Archive
Researchers interested in exploring African nationalism in Northern Rhodesia and the Party’s support for the liberation movement in Southern Africa, as well as the impact of one-party-state rule and nationalization of the political economy of Zambia, should visit the political archive of UNIP. The UNIP Archive is currently located around Town Centre area in Lusaka. Unlike the NAZ, the UNIP Archive practices an open access policy and, therefore, its records are readily accessible to researchers. Digitized copies of UNIP records have been deposited at the NAZ, and the British Library in London, where they are freely accessible to the public. However, not all records were digitized, thus, are unavailable in these other institutions.
There are two main collections of files in the UNIP Archive. Class-marked ANC/1–8, which stands for series of the Northern Rhodesian/Zambian African National Congress from number 1 to 8, this inventory, consists of files looking at the history of the Northern Rhodesian/Zambian ANC between 1950 and 1972. The existence of ANC’s records in the UNIP Archive require some clarification and context. UNIP was formed in 1959 as a splinter party from the ANC. Inevitably, in order to understand the history of UNIP, one has to have the knowledge on the history of the ANC, which was established in 1948. This explains why ANC collections are found in the UNIP Archive. The other inventory class-marked UNIP/1–15, which represents documents of the United National Independence Party running from 1 to 15, records the history and political role of this party from 1959 when it was formed to 1991 when it was removed from power in Zambia.
The ANC records consist of personal papers relating to headquarters members of staff and offices of the national president and national secretary. There are also minutes of party meetings at national and provincial levels. A large section of ANC records is in form of party provincial reports and correspondence with external organizations regionally and internationally, as well as communications with the government. A large section of the institution contains files covering internal and external affairs of UNIP and its government. These are in the form of minutes, reports, speeches, press releases, circulars, and newsletters of the party’s National Council, Research Bureau, Central Committee, and its women and youth wings. There are also various reports and general correspondence papers relating to the offices of the president and vice president, trade unions, cooperative societies and associations, various ministries and companies, as well as communications with regional and international political movements. In its custody are also personal administrative applications, as well as party and government publications on perceived benefits of one-party-state rule, the philosophy of humanism, and nationalization of the private sector.
As indicated elsewhere above, the end of one-party-state rule in 1991 opened the use of UNIP archives to academic researchers, and access to party and government records. These records give valuable insights into trends in the political economy of Northern Rhodesia later Zambia during the struggle for independence (1950–1963), First Republic (1964–1972), and Second Republic (1973–1991). On the one hand, the records of UNIP show the political role of the Copperbelt and its mine compounds, as the hub of the nationalist movement during the country’s struggle for independence from Britain and a political base for the Party during the First Republic and one-party-state rule. In this regard, the UNIP Archive is the main source of records, which give an insight into the role of women and youths in Zambia during the struggle for independence and political mobilization under one-party-state rule, topics which are missing from the existing historiography.Footnote 20 On the other hand, UNIP records demonstrate the role of Zambia in the liberation struggle in Southern Africa, as this country became the hub for liberation movements in the region between 1965 and 1980. The documents also provide a detailed understanding of the political and philosophical reasons behind nationalization of the mining sector in particular and the Zambian economy in general, as well as the introduction of the one-party-state rule in this country between 1968 and 1972. In this context, these records give important insights into political debates within the Party and government circles about one-party-state and nationalization policies.
Beyond these insights, the documents of UNIP reveal to us the Party and its government’s effort to diversify the Zambian economy away from copper mining into other sectors such as industrial enterprise, agriculture, tourism, construction, manufacturing, and retail. The records also show that the government tried to encourage rural development by providing free education, health and agricultural inputs, as well as constructing new roads to improve on transport networks. The challenges and problems experienced in these sectors and implications on the national economy are revealed in these records. Like the records of the NAZ, the documents of UNIP reveal a great deal about the politics of development, though, with very little information on the technical side of development theory. By comparison, the records of ZCCM give us detailed insights into the science, technique, and business of mineral discovery and exploitation.
Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) Archive
One cannot research the history of mining in Zambia without utilizing the ZCCM Archive. The archive of ZCCM is located in Ndola, which is the provincial headquarters of the Copperbelt. Like the UNIP Archive, the ZCCM Archive practices an open access policy, thus, researchers can access its records at any time.
There are several categories of files in the ZCCM Archive. These are classified according to the ZCCM departments that created them. These departments include the offices of ZCCM Chief Executive, Director of Corporate Planning, and Central Services Division. The department of Director of Human Resources-Support Services, created other files. As mentioned above, ex-Rhodesian Anglo American Corporation (RAA) and ex-Rhodesian Selection Trust (RST), and BSAC head offices in the diaspora (South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, Britain, and the United States) generated the majority of ZCCM archives. These also include archival documents of subsequent mining companies, such as NCCM Limited, RCM Limited, and the ZCCM Limited itself. As stated earlier, the Chamber of Mines later the Copper Industry Service Bureau produced printed material for the whole industry. Individual divisions, notably Kabwe/Broken Hill, Bwana-Mkubwa, Luanshya/Roan, Nkana/Rokana, Mufulira, Chingola/Nchanga, and Konkola/Bancroft also produced significant amounts of archival documents. Records generated by these mining companies cover the period from 1904, when the Kabwe/Broken Hill mine was opened, to 2000 when the ZCCM was completely privatized. Documents generated since 2000, which belong to the privatized ZCCM Investment Holdings (ZCCM-IH), are still deposited with the institution. All archival documents in this institution are class-marked ZCCM, depicting the abbreviation for the name of the Company.
The opening up of the ZCCM Archive has exposed the problematic and limited scope of international and overseas archives. There are two major criticisms. Firstly, archives in Britain and the US have much more detailed information on the RST’s group of companies than they do on the RAA’s subsidiaries. In the case of RAA, however, its parent company, AAC, has historical records and information in their library in Johannesburg, South Africa. Researchers have been unable to access its documents freely because AAC is still active, and like the majority of active corporations, AAC determines who can access their records. By contrast, Selection Trust archives in London are easy to access because the Company ceased to exist and the personal papers of key figures of the Company, such as Sir Chester Beatty and Sir Ronald Prain, are available. Additionally, the American Heritage Center at University of Wyoming contains Ronald Prain papers, comprised of his speeches, reports, and correspondence with British, Rhodesian, and Zambian government officials especially between 1950 and 1972, when he was the Chairman of RST. Even so, the records in Britain and the US are less useful for studies focussing on AAC’s subsidiaries; they contain RST and AMAX papers. Besides, the primary sources held in the National Archives at Kew and the Bodleian Library at Oxford are suitable for studies entirely focused on the relationship between the mining companies and the Colonial Government. Secondly, although archives in Zimbabwe, Britain, and the US contain detailed information about the Zambian mining industry during the colonial era, their holdings dwindle rapidly as far as the period after independence is concerned. By contrast, archival data on both groups of companies is available on the Copperbelt itself, for the period before and after independence, making a possible comprehensive analysis of the copper industry trends in particular, as well as general political, social and economic transformations in Zambia.
The most useful aspects of the ZCCM collection is that it contains internal Rhodesia/Zambia Broken Hill Development Company, Bwana-Mkubwa/Copper Ventures, RAA/AAC, RST/ST, NCCM/ZCI (Zambia Copper Investments), RCM/AMAX, and ZCCM/ZCCM-IH correspondence not found anywhere else. These internal correspondence documents are in the form of communiques, letters and memos, statements on issues, policy positions, and speeches of key players in these companies. These records cover the period between 1910 and 2008, and reveal the inner-workings and inter-relationships of these mining firms. There is also correspondence between African and European trade unions and the mining companies covering the period from late 1930s when the European Mineworkers’ Union was formed to the early 1960s prior to Zambian independence. The majority of internal documents in the ZCCM Archive are in the form of directors’ monthly, quarterly, and annual reports on industrial relations, mining, production, costs, taxation, and profits, as well as minutes of meetings, attendance books, and registers, which record holdings, interests, and major decisions of the various mining companies since their foundation. These records are more detailed than published reports, and show the vertical and horizontal integration of these firms. From all of these internal documents, it is possible to see beyond the general corporate structure and, thus, allowing the researcher to delve into the informal connections of these companies. Utilizing these sources in this manner makes it easier to point out the differences and similarities in policy positions and opinions of these companies towards, for example, the dual labor structure, the color bar, African advancement, Zambianization, and major political economic developments such as Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and decolonization, one-party-state rule and nationalization, and democratization and privatization.
There are also geological survey reports, maps, and drawings with information of the Copperbelt mining complex since late-1890s, as well as engineers’ reports on metallurgical and technological innovations at individual mines since their foundation.Footnote 21 These records give an insight into the geology of individual mines and the role of technological innovations in mineral prospecting and mine development, as well as its contribution to the mining, smelting and refining operations of the Northern Rhodesian/Zambian mining sector.
There are personnel and welfare documents, which include reports by compound managers on hospitals, beerhalls, housing, films, food rations, and tribal representative meetings. It also consists of collections on town planning, housing services, educational services, secondary industries, sport, and security in the mines and their compounds. These files can add information to research focusing on the social life of workers and their families in mining areas. There are also volumes of personal files of former employees at individual mines stated above, especially those who worked from the 1970s to early 2000s. These contain personal information of former workers and their families, their place of origin and ethnic identity, salary scale, length of service, and personal properties. Throughout my research at the ZCCM Archive in 2015, I witnessed former employees flocking to the institution requesting their files to make claim benefits and patents especially on residential plots. There are many reports on medical services, pollution and environment, mine accidents, and diseases in the mines (such as pneumonia, silicosis, and HIV/AIDS). These records give valuable insights on safety and health issues, as well as the environmental effects of mining. Medical and environmental researchers and historians can thus benefit from consulting these collections.
As stated above, the establishment of the Chamber of Mines and the Copper Industry Service Bureau was of crucial importance to the study of the Kabwe and Copperbelt mines as they produced printed material in the form of mining yearbooks from various sources for the whole sector. These yearbooks contain annual statistics on labor strength and emoluments, production, power consumption, transport costs, price of metals on the London Metal Exchange, value of metal sales, taxes, net profits, and dividends, covering the period from 1948 to 1985. The yearbooks also contain statistics on copper production from other major producers in the world, which can be utilized when examining the position of Zambia in global copper production in this period. There are also annual reports of respective mining companies notably NCCM (1970–1981), RCM (1970–1981), ZCCM (1982–2000), and ZCCM-IH (2001–present), with similar information to the yearbooks of the Chamber of Mines and the Copper Industry Service Bureau in the periods indicated in brackets. These annual reports give important insights into the corporate profitability of the mining industry during nationalization (1970–1991) and privatization (1991–present).
The Mine Library houses large volumes of newspapers and magazines, the majority of which are yet to be consulted by researchers. The Mining Mirror (1972–1991) became the only major newspaper produced by the mining industry following the nationalisation of the sector. It replaced independent periodicals such as Rhokana Copper Miner (1951–1962), Nchanga Weekly (1962–1966), Broken Hill Observer (1958–1968), Nchanga Magazine (1951–1957), Horizon (1959–1970), and Optima (1951–1970). While some of these periodicals exist in the international archives, the ZCCM collection contains a complete run of periodicals produced by individual companies. These periodicals are worth consulting because they contain company reports and statements as well as editorials and opinions from specialists in the sector. Additionally, the Mining Mirror is the only major source of information on the effect of Zambianization and indigenization of labor on employment of women in this sector. There are also Hansards – verbatim reports of legislative debates – of the Zambian Parliament between 1982 and 2000, which give insights into political debates on the progress of Zambianization, nationalization, and privatization in this period.Footnote 22 The Mine Museum contains maps and photographic material of metallurgical facilities, early explorers and prospectors, as well as various collections of artefacts, which can add weight to any research on mining history.
The major weakness in the ZCCM Archive is that its catalogue is not well structured and some of the records are yet to be catalogued. It is difficult to locate certain records without reading the entire catalogue, which can be a time-consuming process for researchers. Moreover, the mining industry’s archival sources do not provide detailed information on the operations of individual mines for the years after 1970. Though limited on details, one can still have a general appreciation of the mining companies’ performance in postcolonial Zambia. To this extent, the ZCCM Archive is more useful if compared to other international and overseas archives where virtually no information on the Zambian mining industry exists since independence. This is because surviving primary sources focus on the performance of the parent companies (NCCM, RCM, ZCCM, and ZCCM-IH) after nationalisation and privatization of the sector. Limitations of sources make it hard to examine profitability of individual mines in Kabwe and on the Copperbelt, as well as the new mines of the North Western Province (Kalumbila, Kansanshi, and Lubwana) during nationalization and current privatization, respectively. This limitation in the sources is probably due to a focus on the performance of these parent companies after nationalization as opposed to their subsidiaries. Nonetheless, the overall trend can still be seen from the performance of the parent companies. The other considerable weakness of ZCCM sources is that they do not contain detailed information on labor and industrial relations since complete privatization was introduced in the mining sector in 2000. However, sources with this information could still be obtained from the MUZ HQ.
Mineworkers’ Union of Zambia Headquarters (MUZ HQ)
The archives of the MUZ HQ are suitable for researchers investigating the relationship between the labor movements on the one hand and the government and mining companies on the other, during one-party-state rule, as well as Zambianization, nationalization, and privatization of the mining sector after 1970. As mentioned elsewhere above, the MUZ HQ is situated in a fitting place, at Katilungu House in Kitwe, as this town has been the center of the labor movement in the mining sector since its foundation. Furthermore, during the colonial era, Kitwe was the “hub of the Copperbelt, a bustling industrial city” with the largest multiracial population.Footnote 23 Most people were attracted not only by employment opportunities but also by this town’s centrality on the Copperbelt. One can access the documents at MUZ HQ any time during working days because the institution practices an open access system similar to that of UNIP Archive and ZCCM Archive. The MUZ HQ holds a wealth of material with over 1,500 individual files, the majority of them generated after 1970. As mentioned earlier, a major fire in the 1970s damaged old records dating back to 1949 when the AMU was formed.
The majority of the surviving MUZ HQ files consist of correspondence papers between the MUZ and its branches at individual mines, local and international trade unions, various mining companies, the Ministry of Mines, and the International Labour Organisation, especially in the period from 1970 to 2015. In addition to these files, there are correspondence documents between the MUZ and UNIP during one-party-state rule. There are also memos on agreements between the MUZ on one hand and mining companies and other trade unions on the other. There is an assortment of monthly, quarterly and annual reports of the activities of MUZ and other trade unions, as well as financial statements and reports on operations of the various mining companies in Zambia. In its custody are also internal documents in the form of minutes of meetings of the Mines Joint Industrial Council, MUZ Supreme Council and Branch Executive Committees, as well as newspaper clippings, newsletters, and files containing lists of branch officials and members. There are also legal documents pertaining to labor issues dealt with by the Industrial Relations Court, and disputes between the MUZ, other trade unions and the mining companies settled by the Supreme Court. The MUZ HQ holds various books, booklets and magazines generated locally and internationally, ventilating an array of issues from conditions of service, through to occupational health and safety in the mines, to environmental effects of mining and quarrying. They also contain highlights on the mainstreaming of gender policy in the industry.
MUZ HQ records give detailed information on a range of topics from mine labor legislation to conditions of service in the Zambian mining sector in particular, and in the global mining industry in general, since 1970. MUZ documents reveal that most of the problems experienced by mineworkers are not unique to the Zambian situation but similar to their counterparts elsewhere in the world.Footnote 24
Conclusion
The records contained in the NAZ, UNIP Archive, ZCCM Archive, and MUZ HQ are important for researching the major political, economic, and social transformations in Zambia especially in the period between the 1890s and early 2000s. The ZCCM Archive and MUZ HQ, though, have some records, which cover the information gap to the present, and helps to cure the absences, silences and gaps in the NAZ and UNIP Archive whose sources goes up to 1972 and 1991, respectively.
Their rich content and scope allows the researcher to investigate a broad array of factors, which affected the political economy of Zambia from 1890s to the present. The records of these institutions give an unprecedented insight into the shifting relationship between business and politics. They also cover a wide range of mining industry themes. They are particularly valuable when it comes to questions of state intervention in the mining sector, mine ownership and mineral rights, investment, labor strategies, production, technology, taxation, profits, and the relationship between copper mining and economic growth in Zambia. The most valuable aspects of these four institutions is that their records reveal the influence of mining on other sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, construction, and retail, as well as its contribution to the local, regional, and global political economy.
These four archival repositories make possible for the first time, a comprehensive study of the corporate structure, labor relations, and profitability of the Zambian mining industry, as well as its contribution to the national economy, previously treated in isolation in much of the scholarship. For example, most studies of the relationship between the mining corporations and successive governments treated political and economic policy issues in isolation from the industry’s profitability. Similarly, many studies on labor examined unionized conflict and cooperation without systematically tracing the fluctuating price of copper, mining practices, and other issues shaping the industry’s overall trajectory. Between them, the holdings of the four archival repositories discussed in this article make these kinds of re-evaluations possible.
