Zambia's Stary Mwaba mines the toxic legacy of the Copperbelt's 'black mountains'

A major exhibition about the dangerous lives of the boys and young men who scour slag heaps in search of copper.

Watch LiveBritish Broadcasting CorporationHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureArtsTravelEarthAudioVideoLiveHomeNewsIsrael-Gaza WarWar in UkraineUS & CanadaUKUK PoliticsEnglandN. IrelandN. Ireland PoliticsScotlandScotland PoliticsWalesWales PoliticsAfricaAsiaChinaIndiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastIn PicturesBBC InDepthBBC VerifySportBusinessExecutive LoungeTechnology of BusinessFuture of BusinessInnovationTechnologyScience & HealthArtificial IntelligenceAI v the MindCultureFilm & TVMusicArt & DesignStyleBooksEntertainment NewsArtsArts in MotionTravelDestinationsAfricaAntarcticaAsiaAustralia and PacificCaribbean & BermudaCentral AmericaEuropeMiddle EastNorth AmericaSouth AmericaWorld’s TableCulture & ExperiencesAdventuresThe SpeciaListEarthNatural WondersWeather & ScienceClimate SolutionsSustainable BusinessGreen LivingAudioPodcastsRadioAudio FAQsVideoLiveLive NewsLive SportHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureArtsTravelEarthAudioVideoLiveWeatherNewslettersWatch LiveArtist explores the toxic mining legacy of Zambia's 'black mountains'2 days agoShareSavePenny DaleLusakaShareSaveStary MwabaZambia's notorious "black mountains" - huge heaps of mining waste that scar the Copperbelt skyline - are deeply personal to Stary Mwaba, one of the country's leading visual artists.

"As kids, we used to call it 'mu danger' - meaning 'in the danger'," Mwaba tells the BBC.

"The 'black mountain' was this place where you shouldn't go," says the painter, who was born and lived in the Copperbelt until he was 18.

"But we would sneak in anyway - to pick the wild fruits that somehow managed to grow there," the artist recalls.

Nowadays, the young men heading to "mu danger" are looking for fragments of copper ore in the stony slag of these towering dumpsites - the toxic legacy of a century of industrial mining production in Zambia, one of the world's biggest copper and cobalt producers.