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 Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

. 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 Mufulira District is a Districts of Zambia, district of Zambia, located in Copperbelt Province. The capital lies at Mufulira. As of the 2022 Zambian Census, the district had a population of 200,182 people.

Geography

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 (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 ...

. A tarmac highway to the south-west (the M4 road) connects Mufulira to

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 ...

, away. The city of

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 ...

, 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 of Zambia, provinces located in the northern part of the country. Luapula Province is named after the Luapula River and its capital is Mansa, Zambia, Mansa. As per the 2022 Zambian census, the ...

of Zambia by the

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

. 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 Haut-Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which divides neighbouring Zambia into two lobe ...

to the Chembe Border is named the Congo Pedicle road. The

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

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

Latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic 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 t ...

:-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 lett ...

:28.241944). Mufulira sits at an average

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''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 equipotenti ...

of above

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

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 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 li ...

, 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 wi ...

Population

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

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

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 Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron, copper, silver, tin, lead and zin ...

was rehabilitated by SMEC

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. 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 Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club.

Notable people

Abe Bekker Abe Bekker (born 10 June 1935) is a Zambian former boxer who competed in the flyweight class at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver and in the bantamweight class at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff ...

, boxer, lived here *

Kalusha Bwalya Kalusha Bwalya (born 16 August 1963) is a Zambian former professional 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 Foot ...

, national soccer player and

African Footballer of the Year The African Footballer of the Year award, presented to the best African association football, footballer each year, has been conferred by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) since 1992. Samuel Eto'o and Yaya Touré have won the award the ...

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 Robert Earnshaw (born 6 April 1981) is a Welsh former international footballer who played as a forward. He is the only player to have scored a hat-trick in the Premier League, all three divisions of the English Football League, the League Cup ...

, soccer player *

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a retired Canadian 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. Taking the PC ...

, 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 o ...

. *

Dafydd James Dafydd Rhys James (born 24 July 1975) is a Welsh former rugby union footballer who played on the wing or in the centre. He toured with the British & Irish Lions in 2001. James was born in Mufulira, Zambia, but earned 48 caps for Wales and three ...

, international

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

player *

Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe (April 12, 1922 – January 26, 1980) was a prominent Zambian politician, anti-colonialist, and author, born on April 12, 1922. Kapwepwe made significant contributions towards Zambia's struggle for independence, working tire ...

(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 Christopher Katongo (born 31 August 1982) is a Zambian former professional footballer who played as a striker. At international level, he amassed over 100 caps between 2003 and 2016 for the Zambia national team. He is an Africa Cup of Nations ...

, soccer player and African Footballer of the year 2012 * Felix Katongo, soccer player *

Kenneth Kaunda Kenneth 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 Northern Rhodesia, British ...

(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. * Sunday Musonda, Civil Leader and Philanthropist- Worked as Special Assistant to The First President of the Republic of Zambia Dr Kenneth David Kaunda. (Zambia: Cops rough up KK's cameraman, Post Newspaper, December 29, 1997). (Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Zambia, “Ambassador Yang Youming Visits Zambia's Founding President Kenneth Kaunda on New Year's Eve,” Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Zambia, December 26, 2014) *

Robert John "Mutt" Lange Robert John "Mutt" Lange ( ; born 11 November 1948) is a South African record producer. He is known for his work in rock music as well as co-writing and producing various songs for Shania Twain, his ex-wife. Her 1997 album ''Come On Over'', whic ...

, songwriter and record producer *

Levy Patrick Mwanawasa Levy Patrick Mwanawasa (3 September 1948 – 19 August 2008) was the third president of Zambia. He served as president from January 2002 until his death in August 2008. Mwanawasa is credited with having initiated a campaign to rid the corrupti ...

(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 Stevie Vann (born Stevie van Kerken), also known as Stevie Lange, is a Zambian-born British singer and vocal coach. She is best known for her work as a backing vocalist and studio singer for many groups and solo performers in the 1970s and 1980s. ...

, singer *

Kåre Becker Kåre Becker (born 27 January 1978) is a former professional association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward. Career Born in Zambia to a Malawian father and Zimbabwean mother, Becker moved to the Netherl ...

, professional footballer

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 {{Commons category, Mufulira Mufulira District Populated places established in the 1930s Populated places in Copperbelt Province