From promise to practice: Zambia’s long-awaited Mining Appeals Tribunal begins work today

Mining houses caught in a longstanding impasse over mining rights disputes may finally have reason for relief, says leading Zambian mining lawyer Chilombo Malama-Chijikwa, as the country’s Mining Appeals Tribunal is set to hold its inaugural sittings today.

Mining Appeals Tribunal Chair Philimon Songolo SC announced on Friday that the Tribunal would commence sittings on Monday, 14 September, marking the full operationalisation of a specialist forum for resolving mining-related disputes in Zambia.

This mechanism provides access to justice for investors, mining rights holders, communities and other stakeholders affected by decisions arising from the administration and regulation of Zambia’s mineral resources.

“I can only imagine how many mining houses will be relieved to hear this development, following a long standing ‘freeze’ on mining rights related disputes which could not be adjudicated before the Courts due to lack of jurisdiction,” said Malama-Chijikwa, a partner at Chibesakunda & Co, a member firm of DLA Piper Africa in Zambia. “Well done, and most importantly best of luck to the Tribunal as they create more judicial precedent for our Zambian mining space!”

Today’s sittings bring to an end a decade-long wait to turn a specialist mining appeals mechanism from a statutory promise into an operational forum.

A Mining Appeals Tribunal was first provided for under Zambia’s Mines and Minerals Development Act 2015, but the inaugural five-member body was not constituted until June 2022, almost seven years later. Even then, it did not become operational.

The consequences of that prolonged gap surfaced in Zambia’s courts.

In January 2024, the High Court ordered the Minister of Mines and Mineral Development to operationalise the Mining Appeals Tribunal and hear an appeal, in a case involving Mwobezhi Resources. Three months later, in a case involving Zamsort Limited, another High Court application was dismissed for want of jurisdiction, with the judge noting the “novel issue of public importance” raised by seeking direct access to the courts in the absence of an operational Tribunal.

Five Tribunal members were sworn in in January 2025 under the 2015 Act. Zambia’s overhaul of its mining framework brought another institutional reset, with the Minerals Regulation Commission Act No. 14 of 2024 repealing the old legislation and establishing the Minerals Regulation Commission and Tribunal under a new regime.

As reported by Africa Legal, Chair Philimon Songolo SC and his fellow Tribunal members - Douglas Tambulukani as Vice-Chair, Prof Emmanuel Chanda, Dr Mususu Kaonda, and Dr Joseph Dyson Saul Zulu as Members - were sworn in, alongside their Assistant Registrar Mutale Kamangu, under Zambia's new legislative mining framework in June 2026.

Since then, the Tribunal says it has established the systems and procedures needed to receive, manage and determine appeals.

Malama-Chijikwa described the June milestone as “a much needed step” towards efficiently resolving mining disputes. Three months later, the institution is moving from establishment and preparation to actual adjudication.

That transition comes at a significant time for Zambia’s mining industry.

Joseph Jalasi, Senior Partner at Dentons Eric Silwamba, Jalasi & Linyama and Head of Mining for Dentons Africa, recently told Africa Legal he had never seen such a surge in mining enquiries and instructions since entering private practice in 2011.

Jalasi said the wider overhaul of Zambia’s mining framework was intended to create “a regulatory environment which could give them confidence”, referring to international investors, alongside greater security of tenure.

Those changes will be among the key issues discussed when senior legal, mining, government, investment and finance leaders gather in Livingstone on 29 September for the inaugural Zambia edition of the GC Forum Extractives. Jalasi will lead a quickfire session, “The Regulatory Outlook: What Businesses Need to Know”.

Dentons Zambia said the Forum’s timing “could not be more significant”, as Zambia strengthens its mining regulatory framework while attracting renewed global interest in critical minerals.

Zambia is targeting annual copper production of three million tonnes by 2031. The Tribunal says a specialised dispute-resolution mechanism should provide greater certainty and predictability while reducing delays that can affect the continuity, development and expansion of mining projects.

More than a decade after Zambia first provided for it in law, the Mining Appeals Tribunal is finally moving from promise to practice.