Chingola is a town in Zambia's

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 ...

, the country's copper-mining region, with a population of 256,560 (2022 census). It is the home of Nchanga Copper Mine, a deep-shaft high-grade content copper mining operation, which subsequently (in the 1960s) led to the development of two

open pit Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock or minerals from the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful ore or ...

operations, Chingola Open Pit and then Nchanga Open Pit (the latter being the second largest open cast mine in the world).

History

Chingola was founded in 1943, somewhat later than most other

towns. Chingola was built to service the newly opened Nchanga Copper mine.

Demographics

Mines

Situated at the north-west end of the

, the Nchanga Mines Open Pit workings lie in an arc 11 km long around the west and north of the town, covering nearly 30 km². The deepest part of the pit is 400 m lower than the surrounding plateau. The Mimbula Copper Project is a copper rich oxide and sulphide deposit, located on the outskirts of the town of Chingola on a mining licence held by Moxico Resources’ Zambian unit. Moxico Resources is a development and exploration mining company incorporated in the UK. In 2021, Moxico Resources began construction of a 10,000 tonne Leach Pad, Solvent Extraction and Electrowinning Plant. The Plant is expected to be operational by Q2 2022 and is planned to be expanded in phases.

Communications

A freight-only branch of

Zambian Railways Zambia Railways (ZR) is the national railway company of Zambia and 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 ...

services the town from Kitwe. The branch includes the movement of copper ore to the smelters at Nkana in Kitwe. Chingola is on the main Copperbelt Highway (the T3 road) running north to

Lubumbashi Lubumbashi ( , ; former ; former ) is the second-largest Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, located in the country's southeasternmost part, along the border with Zambia. The capital ...

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

via

Chililabombwe Chililabombwe (formerly named Bancroft) is a small town in Copperbelt Province, Zambia. It is located near the Democratic Republic of the Congo border. The name Chililabombwe means 'place of the croaking frog' in the local language of Lamba. The ...

and Konkola and running south-east to Kapiri Mposhi via

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 ...

and

Ndola Ndola is the third largest city in Zambia in terms of size and population, with a population of 627,503 (''2022 census''), after the capital, Lusaka, and Kitwe, and the second largest in terms of infrastructure development after Lusaka. It is the I ...

. It is also at the start of the T5 road, running west-north-west to a border with Angola via

Solwezi Solwezi is a town in Zambia. It is the provincial capital of the mineral-rich North-Western Province. Solwezi is also the administrative capital of Solwezi District, one of the eleven districts in the North-Western Province. Geography Locati ...

and Mwinilunga. Chingola is served by Kasompe Airport, (

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is an airline trade association founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences tha ...

code: CGJ). It is also served by 2 shopping malls: The Park Mall and the Motherland Shopping Mall.

Public facilities

Nchanga Rangers Football Club is the town's largest soccer club and hosts games at the Nchanga Stadium located in the Nchanga North suburb.

Features of Chingola

National Monument

* Hippo Pool on the

Kafue River The long Kafue River is the longest river lying wholly within Zambia. Its water is used for irrigation and for generating Hydroelectricity, hydroelectric power. It is the largest tributary of the Zambezi, and of Zambia's principal rivers, it ...

, 10 km north, established as a

National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...

in 1954.SECTION 16-THE HIPPO POOL, CHINGOLA, BY-LAWS
, (Cap. 266 of the 1971 Edition of the Laws), accessed 15 August 2022

Other features

* Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage, a sanctuary for

orphan An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew language, Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages ...

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close rel ...

s, lies 60 km north-west of Chingola. * "Five Mile Rock", about 8 kilometres from Chingola on the right hand side of the T3 road to Kitwe, is a popular landmark.

Notable people born in Chingola

Felix Bwalya Felix Bwalya (21 December 1967 – 23 December 1997) was a Zambian boxer who won a gold medal at the 1991 All-Africa Games and competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. As a professional, he became African champion and went 12� ...

(1970–1997), boxer * Patson Daka (born 1998), footballer *

Samuel Matete Samuel Matete (born 27 July 1968 in Chingola) is a retired male track and field athlete from Zambia, who competed mainly in 400 metres hurdles. Career Noted for his exceptionally fast finish, he was one of the world's leading hurdlers in the earl ...

(born 1968), athlete * Chilekwa Mumba (born 1984/1985), environmental activist * Elias Munshya (born 1978), diplomat * Richard Moth (born 1958), Roman Catholic prelate and Bishop of Arundel and Brighton

References

{{Authority control Populated places established in 1943 Populated places in Copperbelt Province 1943 establishments in the British Empire