Optimizing Cost and Project Management in Zambia’s Mining Infrastructure Projects: A Case of Lubambe Copper Mine Limited

Abstract

The mining sector remains a cornerstone of Zambia’s economy through its contribution to gross domestic product, export earnings, and employment. Despite this importance, mining infrastructure projects continue to experience persistent cost inefficiencies and project management challenges that undermine operational performance. This study investigated the factors influencing the optimization of cost and project management in Zambia’s mining infrastructure projects, using Lubambe Copper Mine as a qualitative case study. The research adopted a qualitative case study design and purposively engaged ten expert participants drawn from engineering, project management, cost control, and senior management roles directly involved in project planning, implementation, and financial oversight. Primary data were collected through semi structured questionnaires and analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. The analysis followed a systematic coding process that involved initial familiarization with the data, open coding to identify meaningful units of information, axial coding to group related codes, and selective coding to consolidate these groups into higher order themes. Themes were derived inductively based on patterns of recurrence, emphasis, and explanatory strength across participant responses, ensuring that findings were grounded in participants’ lived experiences and professional insights. The findings revealed five dominant and interrelated themes influencing cost and project management optimization. The most prominent themes were procurement and supply chain inefficiencies and weak scope definition, both of which were consistently identified as primary drivers of cost overruns and project delays. These were followed by workforce competence gaps and limited integration of technological systems, which constrained coordination and real time cost control. Leadership discipline and accountability emerged as a cross-cutting theme shaping the effectiveness of all other factors. Integration between cost and project management was found to be further constrained by institutional rigidity, fragmented information systems, poor interdepartmental communication, and cultural resistance to change. Based on these prioritized themes, the study developed a four-stage optimization framework comprising collaborative planning, synchronized execution, real time monitoring, and continuous feedback. The study recommends policy and regulatory support from the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development, the Zambia Public Procurement Authority, and the Engineering Institution of Zambia, alongside the adoption of integrated enterprise resource planning systems and sustained capacity building within mining firms. The study contributes to knowledge by offering an empirically grounded and context specific framework for integrating cost and project management in mining infrastructure projects within developing economies.