Chinese Investor Commits $30 mln to Reopen Zambia Industrial Lime Facility

May 28, 2026

Mintesinot Nigussie

A Chinese-backed investment of 30 million US dollars will be used to restart operations at one of Zambia’s oldest industrial lime facilities, nearly eight years after the plant fell into insolvency amid operational challenges.

The funding will flow through Ndola Lime Limited, a newly established joint venture between Zambia’s state-owned investment company ZCCM Investments Holdings and Chinese-owned Wonderful Group.

Wonderful Group will emerge as the majority shareholder in the venture with a 55 percent stake supported by a 25 million US dollar equity injection and a further five million US dollars structured as a shareholder loan.

The revival plan has been structured in three stages, beginning with the construction of a lime production unit designed to produce 600 metric tonnes daily.

Operations at the facility had deteriorated before the company entered insolvency proceedings in 2018, disrupting supplies of industrial lime used by Zambia’s copper mining industry.

ZCCM-IH said the redevelopment is intended to restore domestic production capacity for critical industrial inputs.