Luanshya Town

Founding of the town

Luanshya belongs to a family of copper mining towns on the Copperbelt province of Zambia. This town owes its existence to copper. Although other minerals like cobalt are also mined here.

The town was founded in the early part of the 20th century by an explorer/prospector, William Collier.

It is situated on an altitude of 1257m above sea level and has a population of 115,579(2000) census. The area is in the land of the Lamba people, but due to the demand for labor on the mines, a lot of people came here in search of employment on the mines. As a result, the population here is mixed up, a combination of several tribes and other races.

Luanshya

Luanshya Town Center

The mining sector has gone through a lot of transformation, from the day when William Collier shot a Roan Antelope to date. Incidentally, the antelope which Collier had shot fell on the ground where copper ore was exposed. And this was the start of mining and the birth of the town as we know it today.

Roan Antelope copper Mines, the company formed after collier’s adventure was named in honor of the antelope that he had killed.

Economic activity

The town has seen some bad times of late. With the demise of some mines which became costly to operate, coupled with low prices of copper on the world market, a lot of people where laid off.

However, the town did get a new lease of life with the development of Muliashi Mines by Luanshya Copper Mines (LCM). This new revival was complimented by a rise in copper prices on the international market. Unfortunately, starting around October 2008, copper prices went down again!

This resulted in the closure of the mines in January 2009. As a result, about 1,500 employees were declared redundant.

On 22nd December 2009,the town officially came to life! It was taken over by China Non-Ferrous Mining Company Luanshya Copper Mine (CNCM).

The town is divided into two residential areas, the municipal area and the mining area. Non miners live in the municipal and miners live in the mining area. Most of the municipal area consists of Mikomfwa Township, while Roan, Mpatamato and part of the town area make up the mining townships.

Luanshya Accommodation

Where do you spend a night if you are a visitor here?

There are a few lodges such as Cholwa Guest House, Pakawama lodge, Chito’s Court Yard, Mwetete Executive Guest House, K-mies Guest Lodge, Mubende Country Lodge and many more.

Pakawama lodge provides the following: Comfortable accommodation, delicious meals, cash bar, venue for various functions and relaxing garden with swimming pool.

The contact details for Pakawama lodge are as follows:

+260 212 512266
+260 212 512776
+26 0977 267691
+ 26 0966 959244

Nearest towns

The nearest towns are Ndola and Kitwe. The town is 41 kilometers from Kitwe and about 36 kilometers from Ndola. It is also about 320 kilometers from Lusaka.

Getting to town

If your intention is to fly into town, you will use the Ndola International Airport and proceed by road. There’s only an air strip which is non functional at the moment.

What to do

Being a mining town, almost all the social amenities and activities are connected to the mines. The biggest area with a lot of sports facilities is the Roan Antelope Recreation club. On offer is the cricket club, tennis club, live theatre at RADOS, rugby club, bowling and a well kept swimming pool. The Golf Club is located on the other side of the town.

If you would like plenty of fresh air and water, you can go for the Makoma Dam. The dam is a big attraction during the weekend. Makoma was made as a result of tailings, a process undertaken during the process of refining copper.