Zambia's base metal mining of copper and cobalt has been ongoing since the 1920s. The copper and cobalt mining industry contributes about 12% towards GDP, and provides direct and indirect employment to local residents. To reduce the over-dependency on copper and cobalt mining, industrial minerals such as fluorite, phosphates, talc, barite, graphite, and dimension stones to mention but a few could be major substitutes. This study focuses on industrial minerals as potential economic minerals to sustain Zambia's economy and provide meaningful jobs for local people since unemployment levels have risen to 18.4% as at 2019. It is also a review of the inadequate data on industrial minerals at the Geological Survey Department (GSD), the hub of geological information. Findings of this paper are that the Industrial Mineral Sector has been neglected by relevant stakeholders and needs sufficient funding and intensive research towards economic-geological mapping of industrial minerals in order to thrive. The study is important for socio-economic development of the country.

自1920年代以来，赞比亚就一直在开采铜和钴。铜和钴采矿业对国内生产总值的贡献约为12％，并为当地居民提供直接和间接的就业机会。为了减少对铜和钴开采的过度依赖，可以提及的工业矿物有萤石，磷酸盐，滑石，重晶石，石墨和方晶石，但其中一些可以作为主要替代品。这项研究着眼于工业矿产，因为其潜在的经济矿产可以维持赞比亚的经济并为当地人民提供有意义的工作，因为截至2019年失业率已上升到18.4％。这也是对地质调查局工业矿产数据不足的评论。 （GSD），地质信息中心。已被相关利益相关者所忽视，并且需要足够的资金和深入的研究来对工业矿产进行经济地质制图，以使其蓬勃发展。该研究对于该国的社会经济发展具有重要意义。