You’ll be fired if you refuse
Over the past decade, China has rapidly increased its investment throughout Africa. But while many commentaries have examined the ambivalent relationship between China and Africa, few have systematically examined what Chinese investment means in human rights terms, particularly for Africans employed by China’s state-owned companies. By investigating the specific practices of particular Chinese employers, the conditions of a given set of workers, and the enforcement of labor laws by a particular African government, it is possible to begin to paint a picture of China’s broader role in Africa. To this end, this report examines the labor practices of Chinese state-owned companies in Zambia, a landlocked country in southern Africa, focusing on the country’s long-thriving copper mining industry and its well-established organized labor.
Report Details
Author
Matt Wells
Organization
Human Rights Watch
Countries
Zambia
Publication Date
Nov 3, 2011
Interactive Map of Chinese Presence in Critical Minerals in Africa
Access project info, research reports, case studies, and news on China-Africa mining cooperation. We offer insights for researchers, policymakers, and industry professionals.
Related Projects
Chambishi Copper Mine
The project is operated by Non-Ferrous China Africa (NFCA), also known as NFC Africa, a wholly owned China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group (CNMC) subsidiary. It is primarily a copper mining operation with underground mining on the main and west orebodies, and open-pit mining on the southeast orebody, but also produces gold as a minor byproduct . The Southeast Orebody Project launched in 2018 with a US$830 million investment. The Sino-Metals operation occupies 330 km² of mining licenses covering the Mwambashi and Samba areas; the Mwambashi open pit alone extracts 500,000 t of ore per year. It is noted as Africa’s first ‘digital mine’, producing ore that is fed to the concentrator for copper and cobalt concentrates. CNMC subsidiary Sino-Metals Leach Zambia handles hydrometallurgical operations, using leaching and solvent extraction to process lower-grade ores into copper cathodes.