BHP targets Zambia for major copper exploration expansion

BHP, the world’s largest mining company by market value, is targeting Zambia for a major copper exploration expansion, signaling renewed global interest in Africa’s mineral-rich belt as demand for energy transition metals accelerates.

Zambia’s Ministry of Mines disclosed the development, underscoring a shift in global mining strategy as companies hunt for new copper reserves to meet rising demand driven by electrification, renewable energy, and infrastructure investments.

Zambia pushes for output surge

Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer after the Democratic Republic of Congo, is aiming to more than triple copper production by 2031. The government is ramping up reforms and data transparency initiatives to attract foreign capital into largely underexplored deposits.

Officials say expanded access to geological data, including airborne geophysical surveys and digitized records, is central to unlocking investment and accelerating discoveries.

Technology unlocking hidden deposits

BHP is focusing on large-scale deposits that are increasingly difficult to identify using conventional exploration techniques. Speaking in Lusaka, Campbell McCuaig, the company’s head of global generative exploration, said many of the world’s remaining high-grade copper resources are concealed beneath deep geological cover.

The company is deploying advanced analytics, machine learning, and geoscience modeling to identify “mineral systems”, the underlying geological processes that form major copper deposits.

McCuaig noted that Zambia’s push to modernize its geological database could significantly improve exploration success rates and position the country as a top destination for global miners.

Strategic return to Africa

Headquartered in Melbourne, BHP operates more than 90 sites globally, producing key commodities including iron ore, copper, nickel, metallurgical coal, and potash, resources critical to global infrastructure and the energy transition.

Founded in 1885, the company has evolved from a small mining venture into a multinational powerhouse supporting industrial growth worldwide, delivering employment, community investments, and shareholder returns.

BHP has maintained a limited footprint in Africa since spinning off South32 in 2015. Its brief involvement in Tanzania’s Kabanga nickel project marked one of its few regional investments before exiting last year.

The renewed focus on Zambia suggests a strategic recalibration, as the mining giant positions itself to secure future-facing copper assets in one of the world’s most prospective regions.