Nkana is a section of the city of

Kitwe Kitwe is the third largest city in terms of infrastructure development (after Lusaka and Ndola) and second largest city in terms of size and population (after Lusaka) in Zambia. With a population of 517,543 (''2010 census provisional'') Kitwe is ...

Copperbelt Province Copperbelt Province is a province in Zambia which covers the mineral-rich Copperbelt, and farming and bush areas to the south. It was the backbone of the Northern Rhodesian economy during British colonial rule and fuelled the hopes of the immed ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

which started off in the early part of the 20th century as a railway station to support the growing complex of

copper mining Copper extraction refers to the methods used to obtain copper from its ores. The conversion of copper consists of a series of physical and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ore source, loca ...

operations. It was named after Chief Nkana, the local traditional ruler. The copper mines of Nkana (

South Ore Body South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

Nkana Mine Nkana is a section of the city of Kitwe, Copperbelt Province, Zambia which started off in the early part of the 20th century as a railway station to support the growing complex of copper mining operations. It was named after Chief Nkana, the loc ...

and Mindola Shaft) were originally owned by the

Anglo-American Corporation Anglo American plc is a British listed multinational mining company with headquarters in London, England. It is the world's largest producer of platinum, with around 40% of world output, as well as being a major producer of diamonds, copper, n ...

of South Africa. A large

smelter Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including Silver mining#Ore processing, silver, iron-making, iron, copper extracti ...

was built at the site of the Nkana Mine. The mines in Nkana were among the largest copper mines in the world, employing in excess of 20,000 people. The city of Kitwe grew up as a service town for the Nkana mines but soon swallowed them up, leading to the name Kitwe-Nkana sometimes being used to refer to the city.

External links

Historical, vector-based map of Nkana-Kitwe, 1961
Populated places in Copperbelt Province Copper mines in Zambia {{Zambia-geo-stub