Bank Zambia Plc, was born in Mazabuka. Munali Nickel Mine In September 2006 following a positive feasibility study, Albidon Limited of Australia obtained permits and approvals to mine Nickel in Mazabuka. The initial project development required more than U$180 million, which was funded by debt financing from Barclays Capital and the European Investment Bank and equity from Albidon Limited, JINCHUAN mining group of China and ZCCM Investment Holdings . In April 2007, then Zambian President, Levy Mwanawasa launched the Munali Nickel Project at a ground breaking ceremony. The mine would be built and operated under the venture's special purpose vehicle Albidon Zambia Limited (AZL). AZL commenced mining and production of nickel concentrates in April 2008. Operations were suspended in 2009 because of poor market conditions. From the peak of the Financial crisis of 2007 - 2008 the Mine would struggle for many years. It was briefly owned and run by JINCHUAN mining group of China from 2010. JINCHUAN would invest U$ 37 million and employ about 350 workers. However, the mine was shut down again in 2011 due to cashflow problems. A joint venture Mabiza Resources between Consolidated Nickel Mines Plc of the United kingdom and CE Mining took ownership in 2014 but delayed capital injection which led the government of Zambia at the time to threaten repossession of the asset. From 2015 the JV has placed in U$ 50 million investment to reboot operations at the Munali Nickel Mine. The Mine recommenced operations in 2019. The mine is managed by an all-Zambian management team and currently has a workforce of 380 people, of which 10% are women. Munali currently exports over 10% high quality Nickel concentrate. The mine is expected to generate 3,300t of Ni in 2020, which is anticipated to reach 4,000t in 2021. Although it is billed as a nickel project, Munali also contains commercial quantities of copper, cobalt and platinum group metals (PGMs). See Also: Mining in Zambia References External links Website of Assumption Parish Mazabuka Website of Musikili Primary School Zambia: Mazabuka has more sugar cane than people As at 2 February 1998. Mazabuka District Populated places in Southern Province, Zambia Kafue River