View source for Copperbelt Province

{{Unreferenced|date=December 2009}}
[[Image:ZM-Copperbelt.png|thumb|right|250px|Location of Copperbelt Province in Zambia]]

'''Copperbelt Province''' in [[Zambia]] covers the mineral-rich [[Copperbelt]], and farming and bush areas to the south.  It was the backbone of the [[Northern Rhodesia]]n economy during [[United Kingdom|British]] colonial rule and fuelled the hopes of the immediate post-independence period, but its economic importance was severely damaged by a crash in global copper prices in 1973 and the [[nationalization]] of the copper mines by the government of [[Kenneth Kaunda]]. The province adjoins [[Katanga Province|Katanga]] province of the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], which is similarly mineral-rich.  

The main cities of the Copperbelt are [[Kitwe]], [[Ndola]], [[Mufulira]], [[Luanshya]], [[Chingola]] and [[Chililabombwe]].  Roads and rail links extend north into the Congo to [[Lubumbashi]], but the [[Second Congo War]] brought economic contact between the two countries to a standstill, now recovering.
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==Wildlife areas==
:''For more detail see [[Wildlife of Zambia#Copperbelt Province|''Copperbelt Province'' in the Wildlife of Zambia]]''
There are no national parks in this most urban and industrial of Zambia's provinces. Other parks with wildlife aspects:
*Chembe Bird Sanctuary west of [[Kitwe]] includes crocodiles and [[Sitatunga]] as well as plentiful bird life.
*[[Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage]] (established mainly to rescue captive non-indigenous chimpanzees).

==Districts==
[[Image:Copperbelt districts.png|thumb|right|250px|Districts of Copperbelt]]
Copperbelt Province is divided into 10 [[district]]s:
*[[Chililabombwe]]
*[[Chingola]]
*[[Kalulushi]]
*[[Kitwe]]
*[[Luanshya]]
*[[Lufwanyama]]
*[[Masaiti]]
*[[Mpongwe, Zambia|Mpongwe]]
*[[Mufulira]]
*[[Ndola]]
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==Geology==
[[File:Brochantite-Chrysocolla-k329b.jpg|thumb|[[Brochantite]] on [[Chrysocolla]], Rokana Mine, [[Kitwe]].]]
The Copperbelt region of Zambia and Congo D.R. is a 500 million year old [[mountain chain]], the Lufilian Arc, which formed when two large pieces of [[continental crust]], the [[Kalahari craton]] and the [[Congo craton]], collided. This collision was one of the many that happened between 700 and 500 million years ago to form the [[Gondwana]] [[supercontinent]].

This collision is thought to have remobilised [[base metal]]s, largely already present in the sediments that had accumulated in the basin between the two cratons. These [[brine]]s then concentrated the base metals either along [[stratigraphic]] boundaries, or along fractures, [[Geologic fault|faults]] or within structurally controlled 'traps' (such as the nose of a fold). The collision also produced [[crustal shortening]], during which the stratigraphic sequence was [[tectonic]]ally pushed northwards on top of the Congo Craton.

The Lufilian Arc contains two [[diamictite]]s, megaconglomerates of [[glacial]] origin. One of those is correlated with the [[Cryogenian|Sturtian]] glaciation, while another correlates with the Marinoan Glaciation, both global glaciation events that had profound influence on the history of the planet.

The Lufilian Arc is correlated along trend to the west with the Damara Orogen in [[Namibia]], which also hosts large mineral deposits.

{{Districts of Zambia}}

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[[Category:Plate tectonics]]
[[Category:Copperbelt Province| ]]
[[Category:Provinces of Zambia]]
[[Category:Copper]]
[[Category:Geology of Zambia]]

[[af:Koperstreek]]
[[ar:كوبربيلت (محافظة)]]
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[[es:Provincia de Copperbelt (Zambia)]]
[[fa:استان کوپربلت]]
[[fr:Copperbelt]]
[[id:Provinsi Copperbelt]]
[[it:Provincia di Copperbelt]]
[[sw:Mkoa wa Copperbelt]]
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[[ja:カッパーベルト州]]
[[no:Copperbelt]]
[[pl:Prowincja Copperbelt]]
[[pt:Copperbelt]]
[[simple:Copperbelt]]
[[sv:Copperbelt]]
[[zh:铜带省]]