Although the Copperbelt of Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia) is situated in the very heart of Africa and some 1,500 miles from the coast by rail, and another 6,000 miles from the port of Beira in Mozambique to European markets, the percentage of copper mineralisation in the ore from Zambia made exploitation worthwhile. According to Francis L. Coleman, the world average of copper mineralisation in ore in the 1960s and 1970s was 1.5 percent, and deposits of as low as 0.7 percent could be profitable depending on location etc. In fact the Copperbelt ore averaged around 3.5 percent copper.

Francis L. Coleman holds the degrees and diplomas of M.A., Dip.Ed., PhD. At the time of publication of his Northern Rhodesia Copperbelt 1899-1962: technological development up to the end of the Central African Federation (by Manchester University Press, Augustus M. Kelley Publishers) in 1971, Coleman was Senior Lecturer in Economics and Economic History at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. Other works by Coleman include Marxism, the church and South Africa (1978), St. Aidan's College Grahamstown (1980), Economic history of South Africa (1983), The Kaffrarian rifles, 1876-1988: 'nunc animis' (1988), and A brief survey of the origins, spread, and activities of the Catholic Order of the Knights of da Gama, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its founding in Durban on 20 November 1943 (1993).