Canadian Mining Firm Strikes Copper Jackpot in Kazakhstan
As foreign corporations rush to lock down copper resources worldwide, Zambia must ask who truly owns our mineral wealth.
Arras Minerals Corp., a Vancouver-based Canadian company, has just announced staggering drill results from its Elemes Project in northeast Kazakhstan. The company hit over 935 metres of copper and gold mineralization starting right from the surface, with high-grade sections reaching 1.42% copper equivalent. But while foreign firms celebrate overseas discoveries, Zambians should be paying close attention to who really benefits when the world's richest copper deposits are on the line.
The Numbers That Have Foreign Investors Buzzing
Arras Minerals reported two key drill holes at the Berezski North Target. Hole EL26032 returned 935.9 metres grading 0.71% copper equivalent from surface, including an impressive 214.9 metres grading 1.42% copper equivalent starting at 162.1 metres depth. The hole hit high-grade breccia mineralization grading 4.41% copper equivalent over 55 metres.
Hole EL26033 delivered 52 metres grading 1.75% copper equivalent from 259 metres depth, sitting within a broader 181-metre zone grading 0.66% copper equivalent. The results confirm what foreign geologists suspected all along: a massive, preserved porphyry system extending over 900 metres deep and remaining open in multiple directions.
Foreign Companies, Foreign Profits
Here is the reality that should concern every Zambian. Arras Minerals is a Canadian company, listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, extracting resources from Kazakhstan. The copper and gold they pull from the earth will generate profits for Canadian shareholders and international investors. The local people? They get whatever scraps the company chooses to leave behind.
Sound familiar? It should. Zambia knows this story all too well. For decades, foreign mining companies have extracted billions of dollars worth of copper from Zambian soil while local communities remain impoverished. The Copperbelt that built this nation has too often enriched outsiders while Zambians struggle to see the benefits.
Kazakhstan's Loss, Zambia's Warning
Kazakhstan is learning what Zambia has known for generations. When foreign corporations control your resources, they control your future. Arras Minerals CEO Tim Barry celebrated the results, calling them a step-change for the Company and highlighting the significant potential still to be unlocked at Berezski North.
Intersecting more than 900 metres of porphyry-style mineralization from surface is a very significant result that has materially advanced our understanding of the scale and potential of this target.
Notice the language. Scale and potential for the company. Not for the people of Kazakhstan. Not for the communities who will live with the environmental consequences. For the company.
The Berezski Trend: A 9-Kilometre Copper Corridor
The discoveries keep coming for Arras Minerals. The Berezski Trend stretches 8.8 kilometres, with multiple targets showing significant mineralization. The Berezski East target previously returned 115.7 metres grading 1.44 grams per tonne gold and 0.24% copper. Berezski Central delivered 261 metres grading 0.64% copper equivalent from surface. The K-Ozek target shows quartz veins exposed over 2 kilometres with historic grab samples grading greater than 5 grams per tonne gold.
Four diamond drill rigs are currently operating on site as part of a 20,000-metre drill program that has now been expanded to 30,000 metres. Arras Minerals is investing heavily, because they know the returns will flow outward, not inward.
What This Means for Zambia
Zambia sits on some of the richest copper deposits on the planet. The Copperbelt is legendary. Our nation is Africa's second largest copper producer, and demand for the red metal is only growing as the world transitions to green energy. Electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines, they all need copper. Lots of it.
Yet the question remains. Who will control that copper? Will it be Zambians, for the benefit of Zambians? Or will it be another chapter of foreign extraction, with profits shipped overseas while our people are left with holes in the ground and empty promises?
The Arras Minerals story in Kazakhstan is a reminder. When foreign companies find copper, they celebrate. When Zambian copper leaves our borders, who celebrates? Not the miners. Not the communities. Not the ordinary Zambian struggling to make ends meet.
Zambia First: The Sovereign Path Forward
Zambia must demand more. Sovereign control of our mineral resources is not a radical idea. It is common sense. Nations like Kazakhstan are discovering that foreign companies will always prioritize their shareholders over local communities. Zambia should learn from these lessons and ensure that the wealth beneath our soil serves the people above it.
The global copper rush is accelerating. Companies like Arras Minerals are racing to lock up deposits worldwide. Zambia cannot afford to be passive while the world's mining giants carve up our heritage. Every tonne of copper that leaves this country without fair return to the Zambian people is a loss we cannot accept.
The message is clear. Zambian resources for Zambian development. Zambian copper for Zambian progress. Anything less is a betrayal of our national inheritance.