Zimbabwe’s dormant copper industry is approaching a potentially important investment test: whether ageing assets such as Mangura can be converted from historical mining operations into commercially competitive projects at a time when copper is becoming strategically more important to the global economy.
The Zimbabwe Financial Mail believes the question facing Mines Minister Polite Kambamura is no longer simply whether Zimbabwe can revive its old copper mines, but whether the Government can create the technical, financial and regulatory conditions under which international investors would be prepared to redevelop them.
That distinction matters.
Mangura’s principal challenge is well understood. The mine was developed to exploit ore at considerable depth, making access, dewatering, underground development, energy requirements and ore-handling economics significantly more difficult than those of a shallow, open-pit operation. But the existence of a difficult resource does not automatically make it an uneconomic one.
The investment question is whether modern mining technology, higher copper prices, improved processing techniques and better capital structures can alter the economics sufficiently to justify the redevelopment.
And the global copper market is providing a much stronger backdrop than existed when Zimbabwe’s copper industry entered decline.
Copper is becoming strategically more valuable
Copper is increasingly regarded as one of the critical industrial metals of the electrification economy. It is fundamental to electricity transmission, renewable-energy systems, electric vehicles, data centres, industrial equipment and grid expansion.
The International Energy Agency says copper is expected to record the largest absolute demand growth among the critical minerals it tracks, with demand projected to increase by about seven million tonnes by 2040.
S&P Global’s longer-term assessment is even more striking. It projects global copper demand rising from about 28.3 million tonnes in 2025 to 42.4 million tonnes by 2040, while warning that mine supply could fail to keep pace without substantial new investment.
Recent market conditions have further underlined copper’s strategic importance. Copper prices have approached record levels amid concerns about supply, US stockpiling, tariff distortions and disruptions at major producing operations.
But analysts caution against treating every bullish copper forecast as evidence of a permanent shortage. The International Copper Study Group, for example, currently expects a refined copper surplus of about 96,000 tonnes in 2026 and 377,000 tonnes in 2027.
The more important investment thesis is therefore not that copper will necessarily remain in permanent deficit, but that the industry faces a structurally stronger demand outlook and increasingly complex supply constraints.
That is precisely the environment in which dormant, technically challenging deposits can become interesting to specialist investors.
Mangura’s problem is not simply the depth
Mangura should therefore not be assessed merely on the basis of whether its old workings can be reopened.
A modern feasibility study would have to establish the economically recoverable resource, grade distribution, mining method, depth profile, dilution, recovery rates, metallurgical characteristics, infrastructure requirements, power consumption and capital intensity.
The mine’s historical configuration should not automatically determine the configuration of a future operation.
The central question is whether a new investor could design a modern mine around the resource that remains, rather than simply attempting to recreate the operation that existed decades ago.
That may require new shafts or shaft rehabilitation, modern hoisting systems, underground crushing and conveying, extensive dewatering, ventilation upgrades and potentially new processing infrastructure.
The economics of each component would have to be tested against the expected copper price and a conservative long-term price assumption rather than against today’s spot market.
Zimbabwe has other copper assets waiting for capital
Mangura is also not the only opportunity.
ZMDC’s portfolio includes the Angwa and Chidzikwe projects in Mashonaland West. According to ZMDC, Angwa remains substantially intact but requires steel casing and potentially deepening, while underground crushing infrastructure and dewatering would be required before underground operations could restart. The company says both operations ceased in 1997 because of funding constraints.
ZMDC also identifies the treatment of the Mhangura dumps as a separate opportunity.
This is significant because Zimbabwe does not necessarily have to choose between a large-scale underground redevelopment and doing nothing.
There is a spectrum of copper opportunities ranging from tailings and dump retreatment to brownfield rehabilitation and ultimately greenfield or deep underground development.
Indeed, Mhangura’s history demonstrates that value can be extracted from the old mining complex without immediately committing billions of dollars to rebuilding the original mine. ZMDC and a Chinese partner have already pursued dump processing, with earlier reporting indicating that the operation was producing copper concentrate for export.
That provides a potential staged-development model.
The case for international capital
The Zimbabwe Financial Mail, speaking to mining and equity-market analysts, finds the strongest argument for reopening the country’s copper sector in the fact that Zimbabwe does not necessarily need to finance the projects itself.
The Government’s role should be to make the assets investable.
That means providing geological information of sufficient quality, transparent mineral rights, predictable fiscal terms, reliable power arrangements, workable infrastructure and a clear framework for repatriation of investment returns.
An international mining company can solve a difficult engineering problem if the expected return compensates for the risk.
It is far less likely to commit capital if the geological uncertainty is combined with policy uncertainty, infrastructure deficiencies and an unpredictable fiscal regime.
This is where Minister Kambamura’s challenge becomes particularly important.
The ministry’s own mandate includes attracting mining investment and promoting mineral development and beneficiation. The test is whether that mandate can be translated into investment propositions capable of competing for capital against copper projects in Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, Botswana and elsewhere.
Rail, power and processing will determine competitiveness
The economics of copper mining do not end at the mine shaft.
A potentially profitable deposit can become marginal if electricity is unreliable, transport is expensive, processing capacity is inadequate or concentrate logistics are inefficient.
For Zimbabwe, this makes infrastructure as important as geology.
A revived copper industry would need reliable electricity, efficient road and rail connections, modern processing facilities and access to export corridors.
The Government should therefore think about copper as an integrated industrial value chain rather than a collection of individual mines.
Angwa, Mangura and other deposits could potentially feed regional processing infrastructure, while investment in transport and power would benefit multiple mining operations simultaneously.
A new investment model is required
The mistake would be to approach copper revival as a nostalgia project.
Mangura cannot be restored simply because Zimbabwe once had a copper mine there. Nor should the Government commit public money merely to recreate historical production capacity.
The investment proposition has to begin with the resource and work forward.
How much copper remains? At what grades? At what depth? What mining method produces the lowest unit cost? What capital is required? What recovery rate can modern processing achieve? What is the expected mine life? Who will buy the concentrate or refined product? What infrastructure is required? And, crucially, what internal rate of return does the project generate under conservative copper-price assumptions?
Those are the questions international investors will ask.
Zimbabwe should make the problem investable
The most constructive challenge to the Mines Ministry is therefore straightforward: do not attempt to remove the geological problem; make the geological problem investable.
If depth is the principal obstacle at Mangura, Government should commission or facilitate the technical studies necessary to determine the cost of overcoming it.
If capital intensity is the problem, structure the project for strategic investors.
If infrastructure is the constraint, develop shared infrastructure capable of supporting several mines.
If metallurgy is the obstacle, bring in specialist processing expertise.
And if the resource is ultimately incapable of generating an acceptable return even under favourable copper-market conditions, Zimbabwe should establish that conclusively rather than repeatedly promising a revival.
That is the discipline required.
The copper window will not remain open indefinitely
The global market is offering Zimbabwe an opportunity, but opportunity is not the same thing as profitability.
The IEA expects copper supply gaps to remain a concern through 2035 under its project-pipeline assessment, while S&P Global argues that the combination of electrification, grid investment, electric vehicles, AI infrastructure and data centres could generate substantial additional demand.
For Zimbabwe, this creates a potentially valuable window to revisit assets that were previously considered too difficult or too capital-intensive.
Mangura’s depth is a barrier. It is not necessarily a death sentence.
The country’s mining authorities now need to establish, with modern geological modelling, engineering studies and rigorous financial analysis, whether that barrier can be overcome at a return capable of attracting serious international capital.
If the answer is yes, Mangura could once again become a strategic copper asset.
If Zimbabwe gets the economics, infrastructure and investment framework right, the revival of copper could extend well beyond Mangura — bringing Angwa, Chidzikwe and other dormant resources back into consideration as the country seeks to diversify its mineral economy beyond its traditional gold, platinum and lithium base.
The opportunity, ultimately, is not to reopen an old mine.
It is to build a new copper industry around old mineral assets.
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