Summary Malaria is endemic in the whole of Zambia and is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Prior to 1980, effective malaria control was achieved in the northern mining towns of Chingola and Chililabombwe by means of annual residual spraying programmes. In the 1970s, incidence rates wereaslow as 20/1000 p.a., but by 2000 had increased to 68/1000 p.a. in Chingola and to 158/1000p.a.in Chililabombwe. Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) initiated a malaria control programme in which all dwellings in the two towns and within a 10‐km radius were sprayed with either dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane or a synthetic pyrethroid (Icon by ZENECA or Deltamethrin by Aventis). Houses were sprayed in November and December 2000, at the start of the peak transmission period. There was a statistically significant reduction in malaria incidence recorded at KCM health facilities in the two towns, representing a protective incidence rate ratio of 0.65 (95% CI 0.44, 0.97) when comparing the post‐spraying period with the corresponding period of the previous 2 years. This reduction followed a single round of house spraying during a year with higher rainfall than the preceding two and in an area where chloroquine was first‐line treatment. This house‐spraying programme is an example of private/public sector collaboration in malaria control.