Running discussion on SP, page-58357

Fyi, Felix has a lot on his DRC Palace Plate apart from a Business Forum atm, as

Tshisekedi hold talks in Kinshasa, agree to resolve trade barriers

Zambian President His Excellency Hakainde Hichilema held very fruitful bilateral talks with His Excellency Félix Antoine Tshisekedi in Kinshasa yesterday.

Their talks centred around trade and investment and long-standing border issues between our two countries, which they agreed should be resolved harmoniously.

They also agreed that trade and investment can be enhanced if they normalise border challenges.

This would not only allow both countries to focus on the creation of business opportunities, but that such efforts would in turn improve livelihoods, health and education for the people of DRC and Zambia.

They expressed willingness to deal with these challenges with determination because the two countries share common history, values and cultures, that would be further cemented if these outstanding matters were amicably resolved.

November 24, 2021 Janet


Zijin approves USD 769 million investment in copper smelter

Zijin Mining announced Tuesday that its board of directors has approved a $ 769 million smelter investment for its Kamoa-Kakula copper project alongside Ivanhoe Mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The company will reduce the partners’ reliance on third-party smelters to process their ore and make blister, a partially purified form of copper.

The 500,000-ton-per-year direct smelter will be Africa’s largest copper smelter and one of the world’s largest single-line smelters, Ivanhoe said last week when announcing the award of the basic engineering contract to China Nerin Engineering Co.

The $ 769 million, including $ 699 million for construction, will come from the Kamoa-Kamula (JV) joint venture’s own cash flow, Zijin said in a filing.

Known as Kamoa Copper, Ivanhoe and Zijin will each hold 39.6%, the DRC government 20% and Crystal River Global Limited 0.8%.

Construction of the plant is expected to take three years, Zijin added.

About 35% of Kamoa-Kakula’s current copper concentrate production, which began production in May, is processed at the nearby Lualaba smelter, majority-owned by China Nonferrous Mining Corp Ltd (CNMC), while the rest is transported to international foundries.

The first phase of Kamoa-Kamula is expected to produce around 200,000 tonnes of copper per year, while the extension of Phase 2 to 400,000 tonnes per year is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2022, Ivanhoe said last week.

The Canada-based company says Kamoa-Kakula has the potential to reach a peak annual copper production of over 800,000 tonnes, which would make it the second-largest copper mining complex in the world, after the mine at Escondida in Chile.

November 24, 2021 Janet


Chino-dependence on cobalt, the need for a geostrategic rebalancing

The Democratic Republic of Congo is faced with the imperative to control and capitalize the Congolese Chinese dependence on the production of Cobalt.

Hence the need for this country to be able to play its role of promoting the geostrategic balance of powers while privileging its interests.


If the Congolese state finally decides to take this interministerial decree on strategic minerals in order to materialize the above-mentioned principles in particular, it will become, in the next ten years, (1) a major player in the global ecological transition. , (2) a geostrategic power balance factor and (3) develop its industrial park (refining plant).

The DRC must no longer limit itself to being a simple commodity annuitant and it must give itself the means to sit at the table of world decision-makers and that voice can count.

I therefore invite, in reality, the Congolese government to materialize the “strategic character” of cobalt which should not be limited, as is the case today, to a simple declaration.

The DRC is not destined to remain a poor country which is satisfied with the mining rent (crumb) of the powerful. It is destined to become a world power.

Global dependence on Congolese cobalt is an opportunity, it is up to it to seize it.

https://copperbeltkatangamining.com...balt-the-need-for-a-geostrategic-rebalancing/