Project Details
SITE SELECTION FOR A PROPOSED LITHIUM CITY, MAPATIZYA
Geospatial & GIS | Multi-Criteria Spatial Analysis | Southern Province, Zambia
SEVEN CRITERIA · ONE SUITABILITY MODEL · DECISION-READY SPATIAL ANALYSIS
Radiant Engineering used multi-criteria spatial analysis to assess potential locations for a proposed new settlement serving a lithium mining area in Zimba and Kalomo districts, Southern Province.
Using analysis-ready public datasets, Radiant combined elevation, land cover, roads, hydrology and other spatial criteria into a single weighted suitability model.
WE MAKE THE GROUND LEGIBLE.
About the Project
Site Selection for a Proposed Lithium Cit
The project focused on a fundamental planning question:
Where should a new settlement serving a lithium mining area be located? The proposed lithium city required a location to be assessed against multiple competing considerations rather than a single geographic factor.
Radiant Engineering carried out a multi-criteria spatial analysis using analysis-ready public data to develop a suitability model for potential settlement locations. The study covered Zimba and Kalomo districts in Southern Province and was undertaken in 2024 for a development planning study.
Seven competing criteria were considered within the spatial analysis, recognising that there was no single right answer to the site-selection question. The resulting analysis produced candidate sites ranked by suitability and provided a field verification plan for the next stage of assessment.
Our Client’s Challenge
Finding a Suitable Location When Multiple Factors Matter
The challenge was therefore to bring these different considerations into one spatial decision-making framework.
The central question was:
Where should a new settlement serving a lithium mining area be located?
Rather than treating each factor independently, Radiant Engineering developed a single weighted suitability model capable of bringing the different criteria together.
Our Approach & Solution
Multi-Criteria Spatial Analysis
The approach combined terrain, land cover, infrastructure and hydrological information before applying spatial analysis techniques and reconciling the results into one weighted suitability model.
01 — ELEVATION DATA
SRTM elevation data provided the terrain information required for slope analysis.
Slope was incorporated as one of the factors affecting the suitability of potential settlement locations.
02 — LAND COVER
ESRI Living Atlas land-cover data was incorporated into the analysis to understand the existing land-cover context.
This helped identify areas where active agricultural land could influence site suitability.
03 — ROAD ACCESS
OpenStreetMap road data was used to assess accessibility.
Distance and proximity analysis helped incorporate access into the site-selection model.
04 — NATIONAL HYDROLOGY
National hydrology data provided the water-related spatial information required for the suitability assessment.
Water availability and proximity formed part of the criteria used to assess candidate locations.
05 — SPATIAL ANALYSIS
The project applied:
Slope analysis Proximity analysis Buffer analysis Spatial overlay Weighted suitability modelling
These analytical methods were applied across ArcGIS, QGIS and Global Mapper, with each platform used for the functions it was best suited to perform.
06 — ONE WEIGHTED SUITABILITY MODEL
The individual criteria were reconciled into a single weighted suitability model.
This transformed separate spatial datasets into a combined suitability surface that could be used to identify and rank candidate locations.