By Jason Mitchell Zambia strives to become the world’s second-biggest copper producer after Chile by the year 2030, and its government believes that copper mining has the potential to transform the country’s economy. In 2022, Zambia produced 770,000 metric tonnes (mt) of the metal, but the government would like to raise production to 3mn mt by 2030. Last year, Chile produced 5.2mn mt, followed by Peru and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), both at 2.2mn mt, and China at 1.9mn mt. Zambia was ranked the world’s ninth biggest producer in 2022 but possesses some of the planet’s highest-gr…