Mufulira, is a town in the

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 imme ...

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

. Mufulira means "Place of Abundance and Peace". The town developed around the Mufulira Copper Mine in the 1930s. The town also serves as the administrative capital of Mufulira District.

Location

Mufulira is located approximately southwest of the town of Mokambo, at the international border with the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. A tarmac highway to the south-west (the M4 Road) connects Mufulira to Kitwe, away. The city of

Ndola Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia and third in terms of size and population, with a population of 475,194 (''2010 census provisional''), after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development aft ...

, the commercial and transport hub of the Copperbelt, lies approximately , by road, southeast of Mufulira. A shorter, less well-maintained road (the M4 Road) exists and measures . Mufulira is connected to the Mokambo Border and eventually the

Luapula Province Luapula Province is one of Zambia's ten provinces located in the northern part of the country. Luapula Province is named after the Luapula River and its capital is Mansa. As per the 2010 Zambian census, the Province had a population of 991,92 ...

of Zambia by the

Congo Pedicle road The Congo Pedicle road (at one time referred to as the 'Zaire Pedicle road') crosses the Congolese territory of the Congo Pedicle and was constructed by and is maintained by Zambia to connect its Copperbelt and Luapula Provinces. Both the road ...

. The section from Mufulira to Mokambo is designated as the M5 Road while the route through the

Congo Pedicle The Congo Pedicle (at one time referred to as the Zaire Pedicle; in French ', meaning 'Katanga boot') is the southeast salient of the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which divides neighbouring Zambia into two lobes. In a ...

to the

Chembe Chembe is a border town in Chembe District in the Luapula Province of Zambia. It once had the Chembe Ferry as a means of crossing the Luapula River from DR Congo to Zambia; but now, it is the home of the Mwanawasa Bridge, named after former presid ...

Border is named the Congo Pedicle road. The

geographical coordinates The geographic coordinate system (GCS) is a spherical or ellipsoidal coordinate system for measuring and communicating positions directly on the Earth as latitude and longitude. It is the simplest, oldest and most widely used of the vario ...

of Mufulira are:12°32'08.0"S, 28°14'31.0"E (

Latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

:-12.535556;

Longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east– west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lette ...

:28.241944). Mufulira sits at an average

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

Overview

The town of Mufulira developed around the Mufulira Copper Mine in the 1930s. A branch of

Zambia Railways Zambia Railways (ZR) is the national railway company of Zambia, one of the two major railway organisations in Zambia. The other system is the binational TAZARA Railway (TAZARA) that interconnects with the ZR at Kapiri Mposhi and provides a link to ...

, carrying freight only, serves the mine. Mufulira is the south-western end of the

connecting the Copperbelt Province to the

, making that province Mufulira's commercial

hinterland Hinterland is a German word meaning "the land behind" (a city, a port, or similar). Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated ...

Population

In 1990, the population of Mufulira was 123,936 people. In 2000, there were 122,336 people. The 2010 population

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

and household survey enumerated the population of the town at 151,309 inhabitants. The table below illustrates the same data in tabular format.

Economy

The Mufulira Mine is now owned and operated by ''Mopani Copper Mines'', which employs 10,000 permanent workers and produced about of copper bars in 2007. The Mufulira Copper Smelter was rehabilitated by SMEC

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. Production and employment levels went down from the 1969 peak when the Copperbelt made Zambia the world's 4th largest copper producer.

Sports

In Zambia, Mufulira is well known for being the home of the successful Mufulira Wanderers F.C., a professional soccer club.

Notable people

* Abe Bekker, boxer, lived here *

Kalusha Bwalya Kalusha Bwalya (born 16 August 1963) is a Zambian former international footballer. He is Zambia's eighth-most capped player and third on the list of all-time top goalscorers behind Godfrey Chitalu and Alex Chola. Kalusha was named African Fo ...

, national soccer player and

African Footballer of the Year African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

winner, in 1988, was born here. * Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba (1943–2011), who served as the second president of Zambia, from 1991 until 2001, lived in Mufulira in the 1960s. * Robert Earnshaw, soccer player *

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

, racing driver who competed in the

1962 South African Grand Prix The 1962 South African Grand Prix, formally titled the 9th International RAC Grand Prix of South Africa, was a Formula One motor race held at East London on 29 December 1962. It was the ninth and final race in both the 1962 World Championship ...

. *

Dafydd James Dafydd Rhys James (born 24 July 1975) is a Welsh former rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes o ...

, international rugby player * Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe (1922–1980), who served as Vice President of Zambia from 1967 until 1970. He served as member of parliament for Mufulira West Constituency from December 1971 until February 1972, under the UPP political party, the only UPP MP elected. * Christopher Katongo, soccer player * Felix Katongo, soccer player *

Kenneth Kaunda Kenneth David Kaunda (28 April 1924 – 17 June 2021), also known as KK, was a Zambian politician who served as the first President of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. He was at the forefront of the struggle for independence from British rule. Diss ...

(born 1924), the founder President of Zambia, in office from 1964 until 1991. In 1948, he served as a teacher and boarding master at Mufulira Upper School. *

Robert John "Mutt" Lange Robert John "Mutt" Lange (born 11 November 1948) is a South African record producer and songwriter, mainly known for his work in rock music as well as his previous marriage to Canadian singer Shania Twain, for whom he wrote and produced several ...

, songwriter and record producer * Levy Patrick Mwanawasa (1948–2008), who served as President of Zambia from 2001 until 2008, was born in Mufulira. * Samuel "Zoom" Ndhlovu, soccer player and Zambia Soccer Team coach * Stevie Vann, singer * Kåre Becker

References

External links

Malachite Plant Extension in Mufulira
*https://www.britannica.com/place/Mufulira *https://www.zambia-info.org/country/town/1340/mufulira *https://www.mindat.org/loc-4345.html *https://www.airbnb.com/mufulira-zambia/stays {{Commons category, Mufulira Mufulira District Populated places established in the 1930s Populated places in Copperbelt Province