Zambia's First Gold Refinery: A 3.5-Tonne Plant, a 1,200-Licence Rush, and a $1.8 Billion Wager

Zambia has unveiled the first gold refinery in its history — a private, Lusaka-based plant that can turn the country's roughly 3.5-tonne annual gold harvest into 99%–99.99% bullion, after already refining a demonstration batch of Mpika gold two months before the big reveal. But the refinery is not the story; it is the visible keystone of a far larger machine: 1,201 new artisanal mining licences, a single-buyer gold regime, government marketing centres under construction in five mining districts, a centralised gold trade agency in draft, and a gold ETF coming to the Lusaka Securities Exchange before the end of October. The real question was never whether Zambia could refine its own gold. It is whether the country can feed the plant — and whether the gold currently leaving through informal channels can be pulled back through it.

What happened On the last weekend of October 2026, Minera Refineries Zambia Limited unveiled a gold refinery during the 2026 Zambia Mining and Investment Insaka (ZAMII) — the five-day national mining forum that ran October 19–23 at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka, opened by President Hakainde Hichilema before more than 1,500 participants, including presidential envoys from the DRC and Botswana. (One outlet, Business Day NG, dates the facility's presentation to October 25; the Zambia Chamber of Mines places the company's presentation on the local-beneficiation panel inside the October 19–23 event.)

The facility, as released by the company and reported across the wire:

Designed to refine gold to 99% purity, with technology and an in-house laboratory capable of reaching 99.99% — the 99.99 figure the managing director, Andrew Mukupa Katandula, cited on the chamber's beneficiation panel. Sized to process the country's entire official annual output — roughly 3.5 tonnes a year (Zambian Observer; the 2024 official figure was 3,141.81 kg, up 40% year-on-year, per the Ministry of Mines). Already run: company representatives said gold sourced from the Mpika area and processed at the facility approximately two months before the unveiling (i.e. around August 2026) achieved "exceptionally high purity levels," attracting interest from potential buyers. Priced at ambition: the company says the initiative could generate more than $1.8 billion — a figure that runs to the Zambian Observer, with no timeframe or stated assumptions (more on the arithmetic below). Paired with a two-year programme outlined by Mr Katandula: formalising artisanal gold mining, introducing targeted pre-financing for miners, and closing the gap "between reported domestic production and trading activity in foreign markets" — in plain terms, the leakage of Zambian gold into informal and cross-border trade. On the same panel he framed the strategic logic: gold should be managed as a "strategic national asset" rather than primarily an export commodity. The government's reading of the moment is equally explicit: after years of shipping raw or partially processed gold abroad for refining, the facility is meant to retain value in the country, open a formal market for small-scale miners, and diversify an export base that is still overwhelmingly copper.

Who owns it — and where it stands The owner-operator is Minera Refineries Zambia Limited, a private Zambian company — not a state enterprise. The company's own profile describes it as "Zambia's trusted partner in gold processing, assaying and trade," with its registered base at Vantage Office Park, off Alick Nkhata Road, Longacres, Lusaka (the exact address of the refinery plant itself is not specified in the reporting; the launch coverage places the facility in Lusaka). Its managing director is Andrew Mukupa Katandula, with Thomson Chilombo Fungwa listed among the company's public contacts. The company's shareholder structure is not detailed in any of the launch coverage — a genuine gap in the record, and a natural follow-up question for the companies' filings with the Patents and Companies Registration Agency.

That private ownership sits inside a deliberately state-steered value chain, which is the part of the story that explains how the refinery is meant to work at all:

The Bank of Zambia remains the country's sole authorised buyer of gold. Mines Ministry Permanent Secretary Dr Hapenga Kabeta has confirmed that all gold processing and purchasing is expected to be channelled through the central bank, and that a single-buyer model will end the current patchwork of independent dealers — with dealing in gold without the required licence becoming a prosecutable offence. A proposed Zambia Gold Trade Agency would centralise buying and exports: gold-buying points and appointed aggregators across the country, the Bank of Zambia holding a right of first refusal for reserve accumulation, one controlled export window, and a national gold traceability system. As of mid-September the framework was in legal consideration, to be presented to Parliament when the legislative session resumes (Lusaka Times, 16 September 2026). Under the revised licensing regime, mining, processing, trading and exporting gold become separately licensed activities, issued and monitored by the Minerals Regulation Commission. So the division of labour is: Minera refines; the state buys, licenses, tracks and exports. The refinery is the newest bolt in that frame, not a parallel scheme. (Worth one line of housekeeping: a separate small Lusaka outfit, "Gold Rush Refinery Zambia," has published its own launch of a 99.99% gold processing facility — a self-published claim from a distinct company, included here only to forestall confusion; the Minera refinery is the one that made national and international news.)

Who is finding the gold: the rush underneath the refinery The refinery's feedstock is not coming from a flagship mine. It is coming out of the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) boom that began, by the account of the miners themselves and of the ministry, with gold's discovery in Mpika in 2023 — when "hundreds of youths, joined by Tanzanian fortune-seekers," poured into areas like Kanyelele and Mukungule in Muchinga Province, setting up makeshift camps and digging by hand (makanday.org). Muchinga is now the frontier: the provincial minister describes gold production at Kanyelele, Kamabwe and Danger Hill as drawing "a growing number of artisanal and small-scale miners."

The numbers behind the rush, as the ministry reports them:

1,201 gold-related artisanal mining licences issued since 2023 (Minister Paul Kabuswe, at the launch). 300 mining cooperatives trained and licensed across nine provinces, with 20-day safety and compliance training in Mpika (December 2025, Lusaka Times). In Mpika alone: 160+ cooperatives trained, 300+ individual licences issued, the Kanyelele Formalisation Block established, a new Mining Bureau office in Chinsali, reduced environmental licensing fees, the donor-supported Planet Gold Zambia formalisation project, and a gold buying office in Mpika — reforms the miners publicly thanked the government for, in July 2026, while pressing for faster identification of the tenements attached to their licences "before the licences expire." Safety training has also run in Solwezi, Mufumbwe and Kabwe; new gold marketing centres are being built before year-end in Lusangazi, Chisamba, Mpika and a second site in Mumbwa, where the first centre is 98–99% complete and will host the Zambia Revenue Authority, the Zambia Gold Company, the Bank of Zambia and licensed aggregators under one roof. The industrial, corporate gold sector by contrast is small and intermittent — official 2024 output of ~3.1 tonnes came from a mix of licensed small-scale and limited industrial production, and the Zambia Mining Report's history shows the industrial side has repeatedly stalled (2022 output fell 18% to 2,945 kg "due to low ore grade and suspension of operations at gold mines"). The refinery is built for the ASM economy — which is precisely why its fate is tied to formalisation rather than to any single mine's production plan.

The machine around the refinery Zoom out and the refinery is one spoke in a wheel that has been turning all year:

Licensing — 1,201 gold ASM licences since 2023; separate licences coming for processing, trading and export. Buying — Bank of Zambia as sole authorised buyer; the draft Gold Trade Agency with regional aggregators and a right of first refusal for reserves. Markets — marketing centres in Mumbwa (nearly complete), Lusangazi, Chisamba and Mpika; a gold buying office already operating in Mpika. Refining — the Minera facility (this story), sized for the full national output. Finance — the Lusaka Securities Exchange is launching its first-ever gold ETF before the end of October 2026, with five new stock listings expected that the exchange is targeting at about $1 billion in new capital (Bloomberg, 16 September 2026; Business Insider Africa). One analyst's caveat is worth repeating: a local-listed gold fund "does not mean buying Zambian gold" — the product may reference international bullion, but its very existence signals how much domestic attention the gold story is commanding. Traceability — a national system to establish where gold is produced and ensure it moves through recognised channels, aimed squarely at the smuggling and under-declaration the sector has suffered "for years." The $1.8 billion figure belongs on this list, with the arithmetic made explicit. Zambia's Export Diversification Strategy sets a 2025 gold output target of 18,000 kg — against 3,141 kg actually produced in 2024, a five-fold gap. At 2026 gold prices (well above $3,000/oz), 18 tonnes of gold is worth roughly $1.7–1.9 billion — which is almost certainly what the company's "more than $1.8 billion" number is pricing: the full formalised output of the sector at today's prices, not the refinery's near-term revenue. By that same arithmetic, refining the current ~3.5-tonne output is worth on the order of a few hundred million dollars a year of gold value staying in-country. The gap between those two numbers — $300-odd million of today versus $1.8 billion of target — is the entire investment case, and it is the same gap the government has already admitted is the sector's central problem.

When does it start operating? Here the honest answer has three layers, because the reporting uses "launch" in two different senses:

Technically, it is already operating. The plant has processed at least one substantial batch — the Mpika-sourced gold refined around August 2026, which company representatives said achieved high purity and attracted buyer interest. That batch predates the launch by two months; the unveiling was the public moment, not the first melt. Commercially, no start date has been announced. Nothing in the coverage specifies when full-rate commercial operation begins, on what terms, or through which sales channel. The two-year formalisation-and-pre-financing programme is the timeline the company itself offered, and Business Day NG's cold-water line is the one to keep in mind: "For Zambia, however, the challenge is not simply having the capacity to refine gold but securing enough supply from miners to keep the facility operating commercially." Structurally, its ramp is gated by the state's supply-side pipeline. The refinery only runs at design capacity if the marketing centres (Mumbwa first), the aggregators, the single-buyer regime and the traceability system actually pull ASM output into formal channels — and if the draft trade-agency legislation passes. The nearest hard milestone is the completion and opening of the Mumbwa Gold Marketing Centre, currently 98–99% done; the refinery's fate is entangled with it, because that centre is where the licensed miners' gold first meets the Bank of Zambia. The continental context: a refining arms race Zambia is not pioneering this. It is catching up. Over the past year, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have each opened or announced gold and precious-metals refining projects (Business Day NG; Business Insider Africa), in a continent-wide pivot from exporting raw and semi-processed minerals to capturing refining and assay value at home. The economic logic is the classic beneficiation argument: a tonne of refined, assayed, traceable bullion commands a structurally better price — and stays in the country's statistics, its foreign-exchange accounts and its tax base — than the same tonne shipped as rough bars to a refinery three thousand kilometres away.

One distinction the launch coverage consistently elides, and that will matter for what the bullion can fetch: purity is not accreditation. 99.99% is a metallurgical specification; the international wholesale market still turns on institutional guarantees — most visibly LBMA Good Delivery accreditation — and none of the launch coverage states that Minera's facility has obtained (or even sought) such accreditation. What the coverage does establish is demand-side interest: buyers have expressed interest in the Mpika batch, and the facility's in-house laboratory is the stated answer to the verification question. Whether the refinery's output ultimately trades in Lusaka through the Bank of Zambia's channel, in regional markets, or eventually into the accredited global chain is the open commercial question — and it determines whether "99.99%" becomes a price premium or merely a specification.

Why it matters, and what to watch The export ledger explains the urgency. In 2024, copper carried 66% of Zambia's goods exports — about $7.5 billion — while gold contributed 2%, worth $262 million (USGS; the Zambian Observer rounds copper to ~70%). Mining is ~17% of GDP. A single-commodity export profile at copper prices is a macroeconomic tightrope, and gold — even at 2% — is the diversification line with the shortest route from ground to cash, because it needs no smelter-scale industrial base, only a refinery, a bank and a licence. If the 18,000 kg target is ever met, gold's share of exports stops being a footnote overnight.

The refinery converts that thesis from policy deck into plant. Whether it becomes load-bearing infrastructure or an exhibit in the next round of "refinery unveiled, supply problem persists" coverage will show in the next two to four quarters. The markers to watch:

Mumbwa first. The completion and opening of the Mumbwa Gold Marketing Centre (98–99% done) — and then Lusangazi, Chisamba, Mpika. Volume through those doors is the leading indicator of refinery feedstock. The trade agency bill. The draft Zambia Gold Trade Agency framework heading to Parliament: single buyer, separate licences, traceability. Its passage (or stalling) is the difference between the refinery operating in a coherent system and in a grey zone. The demonstration buyers. What actually happens to the August Mpika batch — who bought, at what price, through which channel — will be the first real data point on the commercial model. The LuSE gold ETF. A domestic gold investment product launching before month-end, with five listings chasing ~$1 billion — evidence of the capital-side appetite forming in parallel. The gap in the numbers. The discrepancy Mr Katandula flagged between reported domestic production and trading activity in foreign markets — i.e. gold leaving the region through informal channels. Its size, once the traceability system is live, is the honest measure of what formalisation actually recovers. The $1.8 billion. Whether any future government or company statement attaches a timeframe and assumptions to it — or whether it remains, as it stands, an ambition wearing a dollar sign. The refinery's own launch language frames the wager well: when gold grows Zambia, we all shine. The plant can now turn the metal. The open question is whether the country can grow it — 1,201 licences at a time, marketing centre by marketing centre — fast enough to keep the furnaces lit.

Sources The Zambian Observer — "Zambia launches first gold refinery in major push to keep mineral wealth in the country" (week of Oct 26, 2026): https://zambianobserver.com/zambia-launches-first-gold-refinery-in-major-push-to-keep-mineral-wealth-in-the-country — unveiling at the Mining and Investment Insaka/MICC; 99%/99.99% purity; ~3.5 t capacity; Mpika batch refined ~2 months prior; $1.8bn; copper ~70% of exports. Business Insider Africa — "Africa welcomes its newest gold refinery as another nation joins Burkina Faso, Ethiopia in refining gold at home" (Oct 26, 2026): https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/africa-welcomes-its-newest-gold-refinery-as-another-nation-joins-burkina-faso/phem0ns — continental context; Katandula's two-year plan (formalisation, pre-financing, transparency). Business Day NG (Faith Omoboye) — "Zambia launches domestic gold refinery to boost mineral earnings" (Oct 26, 2026): https://businessday.ng/africa/article/zambia-launches-domestic-gold-refinery-to-boost-mineral-earnings — Oct 25 presentation date; 1,201 gold ASM licences since 2023; USGS export split (copper 66%/$7.5bn, gold 2%/$262m); 18,000 kg 2025 target vs 3,141.81 kg 2024; $1.8bn attribution and missing assumptions; supply-as-the-bottleneck caveat; LuSE gold ETF link. The Zambia Chamber of Mines — "Zambia Mining and Investment Insaka highlights opportunities for mineral value addition and local manufacturing": https://mines.org.zm/zambia-mining-and-investment-insaka-highlights-opportunities-for-mineral-value-addition-and-local-manufacturing/ — Katandula on the ZAMII beneficiation panel: 99.99% bullion, "strategic national asset" framing, two-year plan incl. production/trade discrepancy. Shanghai Metals Market — "Zambia's Minera outlines two-year plan for artisanal gold formalisation" (Oct 26, 2026): https://news.metal.com/newscontent/104181482-zambias-minera-outlines-two-year-plan-for-artisanal-gold-formalisation — two-year programme details. ExportFocus Africa (Jayden Bagshaw) — "Zambia Opens Gold Refinery as African Countries Expand Local Mineral Processing" (Oct 26, 2026): https://exportfocusafrica.com/2026-10-26/zambia-opens-gold-refinery-as-african-countries-expand-local-mineral-processing — core facts; $1.8bn without timeframe/assumptions. MiningFocus Africa — "Zambia Opens Gold Refinery…" (Oct 26, 2026): https://miningfocusafrica.com/2026-10-26/zambia-opens-gold-refinery-as-african-countries-expand-local-mineral-processing/ — USGS export data; supply and commercial-output caveats. Minera Refineries Zambia Ltd — company site: https://www.minera.co.zm/ — "Zambia's trusted partner in gold processing, assaying and trade"; Vantage Office Park, off Alick Nkhata Rd, Longacres, Lusaka; contacts (A. Mukupakatandula, T. Chilombo Fungwa). Lusaka Times — "Hichilema to open 2026 Mining Insaka as DRC and Botswana send presidential envoys" (Oct 18, 2026): https://lusakatimes.com/2026-10-18/zambia-hichilema-open-2026-mining-insaka-drc-botswana-envoys — ZAMII Oct 19–23, MICC, 1,500+ participants; theme. Times of Zambia — "HH expected to open Mining and Investment Insaka" (Oct 2026): https://times.co.zm/hh-expected-to-open-mining-and-investment-insaka — same; PS Kabeta on regional significance. Mining Insight News — "ZAMII 2026 launched as government pushes for tangible outcomes" (May 8, 2026): https://mininginsightnews.com/2026-05-08/zamii-2026-launched-as-government-pushes-for-tangible-outcomes-in-zambias-mining-sector — Kabuswe launch; dates; deal rooms. Zambia Monitor — "Zambian govt to tighten gold regulation with single buyer model, new licensing regime": https://www.zambiamonitor.com/zambian-govt-to-tighten-gold-regulation-with-single-buyer-model-new-licensing-regime/ — BoZ sole authorised buyer; single-buyer model; distinct licences for mining/processing/trading/export via MRC; offence for unlicensed dealing; bill due in Parliament; traceability; Kabeta in Eastern Province. Gh Extractives — "Zambia plans Gold Trade Agency to centralise gold buying, exports": https://ghextractives.com/zambia-plans-gold-trade-agency-to-centralise-gold-buying-exports/ — proposed agency, aggregators, BoZ right of first refusal, single export window, traceability system; safety training in Solwezi, Mufumbwe, Mpika, Kabwe. (Consistent with Lusaka Times, 16 Sept 2026, on the proposed agency.) Zambia Monitor / Open Zambia — "Govt moves to check illegal trade in gold, sets up marketing centres nationwide" (Apr 2026): https://www.zambiamonitor.com/govt-moves-to-check-illegal-trade-in-gold-sets-up-marketing-centres-nationwide/ and https://www.openzambia.com/economics/2026/4/10/government-to-build-new-gold-trading-centres-in-bid-to-tackle-illegal-mining — Mumbwa centre 98–99% complete; new centres in Lusangazi, Chisamba, Mpika + second Mumbwa; ZRA, Zambia Gold Company, BoZ and aggregators co-located. Lusaka Times — "300 mining cooperatives receive artisanal licenses nationwide" (Dec 19, 2025): https://lusakatimes.com/2025-12-19/300-mining-cooperatives-receive-artisanal-licenses-nationwide — 300 cooperatives/9 provinces; 20-day Mpika training; Kanyelele, Kamabwe, Danger Hill gold frontier. Lusaka Times — "Mpika artisanal miners thank government for mining reforms" (Jul 8, 2026): https://www.lusakatimes.com/2026-07-08/mpika-artisanal-miners-thank-government-for-mining-reforms — 160+ cooperatives trained, 300+ licences in Mpika, Kanyelele Formalisation Block, Chinsali bureau, Planet Gold Zambia, gold buying office; tenement-identification appeal. makanday.org — "Gold rush brings hope and havoc in Muchinga Province": https://makanday.org/gold-rush-brings-hope-and-havoc-in-muchinga-province — 2023 Mpika discovery; Tanzanian fortune-seekers; Kanyelele/Mukungule camps; Kamabwe pitting; PS Kabeta on online licensing. USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries — "Zambia" (2026): https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/zambia — 2024: copper 66%/$7.5bn of exports, gold 2%/$262m; gold output 3,142 kg (2024), 2,199 kg (2023); 8th-largest copper producer; mining 17.4% of GDP. Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development — media statement on 2024 sector performance: https://www.mmmd.gov.zm/?p=3792 — gold 3,141.81 kg (2024) vs 2,237 kg (2023), +40%; copper 820,676 t. Zambia Development Agency — mining report: https://www.zda.org.zm/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ZDA-Mining-V4.pdf — 2022 gold 2,945 kg (−18%), low ore grade and mine suspensions. Bloomberg — "Zambian stock market to debut gold ETF, sees five stock listings" (Sep 16, 2026): https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-16/zambian-stock-market-to-debut-gold-etf-sees-five-stock-listings — first LuSE ETF before end-October; gold exposure. Business Insider Africa — "Zambia targets $1 billion from five new listings as first gold ETF nears launch": https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/zambia-targets-dollar1-billion-from-five-new-listings-as-first-gold-etf-nears-launch/v6vqdgm — ETF timing; ~$1bn listing target. Shanghai Metals Market — "[SMM Analysis] Zambia's planned gold ETF: a new route to gold investment": https://news.metal.com/newscontent/104160237-smm-analysis-zambias-planned-gold-etf-a-new-route-to-gold-investment — caveat that a local listing need not mean buying Zambian gold. Note: Several figures are company claims, not audited results — the 99%/99.99% purity capability, the ~3.5-tonne design capacity (company figure; 2024 official output was 3,141.81 kg), the $1.8bn value projection (sourced to the Zambian Observer, with no timeframe or assumptions stated; the ~$1.7–1.9bn figure for 18,000 kg at 2026 gold prices is this article's arithmetic, not the company's), and the "high purity" result on the August Mpika batch (company-representative statement). The refinery's exact plant site is not specified in the reporting — launch coverage locates the facility in Lusaka and the company's registered address is an office in the Longacres area; the shareholding structure of Minera Refineries Zambia Limited is not disclosed in any source reviewed. The unveiling date is variously placed inside ZAMII (Oct 19–23) or at Oct 25 (Business Day NG). "Launched/opened" in the coverage describes the public unveiling; no commercial start date was announced, and no source reviewed confirms international (e.g. LBMA) accreditation of the facility. The "Gold Rush Refinery Zambia" launch mentioned in passing is a separate, self-published claim and is not the subject of this article.