Copper is found inside rocks. To get it out, big pieces of the rock are dug from the ground, then crushed and treated until the shiny metal is separated. Copper has been used by people for thousands of years - long before steel or aluminium, the very first metal tools were made from copper.
Zambia's flag has an orange-coloured eagle on it, and the orange colour represents the country's copper. Many towns in the Copperbelt have copper-themed names - the city of Ndola is famous as the heart of the region, and Kitwe was built mainly because of the mines nearby.
Copper is what makes the modern world work. Every wire in your school, every plug, every battery cable, almost every electric motor on Earth has copper inside it. Without copper, there would be no electric lights, no computers and no phone chargers. So a bit of Zambia is probably in your classroom right now.
Today, scientists and engineers in Zambia are working on new ways to dig copper more carefully - to leave smaller scars on the land and to make sure the people who do the digging are safer. Mining is a very old job, but the way it is done is changing fast.