1.0 BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH

Kalumbila Mine is a copper mine in Kalumbila District, North-Western Province, Zambia (west of Solwezi). It was formed in 2010 and is one of the four copper mines in Zambia. Kalumbila Minerals Ltd in Zambia has changed its trading name to ‘FQM Trident Limited’, a name that incorporates the mining firm’s identity as a 100% First Quantum Minerals-owned company and is inclusive of all the Trident Project operations. Since its inception, the company’s mining operations and project has incorporated three mining licences, namely Sentinel, Enterprise, and Intrepid, which collectively make up ‘The Trident Project.’ It does not include the large Kansanshi operation, which is operated by Kansanshi Mining PLC, which is 80% owned by First Quantum.

Trident Mine has a total of 2,950 to 3,000 suppliers, It maintains a documented programme with regards to the performance of its suppliers, but this is only done to those suppliers with whom the company has long-term relationships. Currently, the company has long-term contracts with only 300 suppliers, a very small portion of the total number of suppliers that this company has on its supply base. There are a number of ways that suppliers at Trident Mine measure their performance.

The Aberdeen Group (2002) have defined supplier performance measurement as the process of measuring, analysing and managing supplier performance for the purpose of reducing cost, mitigating risk, and driving continuous improvement. Traditionally, the key performance indicators for supplier performance measurement have been cost, quality and delivery. As these advances have been taking place, the need to measure the performance of suppliers based on characteristics other than price has become apparent. The ideal of buyer’s sharing information with vendors has also become a key to improving quality, quantity, delivery, price and service performance, and the buyer-supplier relationship is beginning to take on the appearance of a partnership relationship rather than an adversary relationship.