Kabwe Mine

While the mine is closed, it appears there are still some metals being extracted from the extremely large tailings pile of the site on an artisanal basis, as well as possibly some reprocessing and exploration by Jubilee Metals.

The area is extremely polluted as a result of heavy metals from the tailings of the mine entering the water table and general supply of the nearby town. Over 100k people near to the mine site suffer from lead poisoning.

In 1921 a skull known as Kabwe 1 was discovered in the Kabwe Mine, which was the first archaic human fossil found in Africa. The fossil belongs to Homo heidelbergensis.

Mindat lists 56 mineral species from the site, including 3 for which it is the type locality – parahopeite, tarbuttite, zincolibethenite.

Fine crystals of pyromorphite, cerussite, and hemimorphite were known from the site.

The town (and the mine) was formerly known as Broken Hill, so some specimens may be labelled as Broken Hill Mine, or possibly ‘Broken Hill, Rhodesia’.

It was actually named after Broken Hill, Australia, due to the Australian mine producing similar ores – the area was renamed Kabwe after Zambian independence in 1964.

Further reading

• https://www.mindat.org/loc-4341.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabwe_mine
• https://www.hrw.org/report/2025/03/05/poisonous-profit/lead-waste-mining-and-childrens-right-healthy-environment-kabwe

If you are interested in other classic Zambian locales we may have stock from the following locales.

Zambian locales

• Kabwe Mine, Kabwe, Kabwe District, Central Province, Zambia
• Mufulira Mine, Mufulira, Mufulira District, Copperbelt Province, Zambia
• Nkana Mine (Rokana Mine), Kitwe, Kitwe District, Copperbelt Province, Zambia

For the rest of our Zambian stock, see below.

Zambia