Anvil Mining to Dig Copper, Silver in War-Torn Congo (Update1) (Adds DRC seizure of Banro mines in sixth paragraph.)
Lusaka, Zambia, June 19 (Bloomberg) -- Anvil Mining Ltd. is about to start mining copper in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a central African country wracked by civil war, as the Australian mineral explorer seeks to tap some of the world's richest mineral deposits. The Dikulushi deposit in southeastern DRC has a copper grade of 8.6 percent, said Bill Turner, executive director of Anvil. ``This is very unusual,'' said Robin Bhar, a metals analyst at Standard Bank in London. Chile, home to the world's biggest copper mines, typically has mines with copper grades of 0.8 percent to 1 percent. The $5.7 million mine project may signal the start of a revival in the DRC's mining industry, devastated by six years of civil war that has forced Anglo American Plc, Iscor Ltd. and American Mineral Fields to suspend investments in the country. ``They are all looking for success in ours to encourage them with their projects,'' Turner said. ``We are right out at the front.'' The DRC seized mines owned by Canada's Banro Corp. in 1998 on a legal technicality and jailed its lawyers a year later, charging them with treason. The government agreed to give the mines back to Banro in April in a bid to encourage investment, Banro said. Anvil's mine will produce about 14,000 tons of copper and 1.1 million ounces of silver a year at a cost of 36 U.S. cents a pound of copper, competitive with the 30 to 40 cents a pound of the world's most competitive mines. The copper production costs include revenue earned on the sale of silver. The Los Bronces mine in Chile that Anglo American bought last month has a copper grade only as tenth as rich as the DRC's Dikulushi deposit. RMB Resources, a unit of FirstRand Ltd., South Africa's second-biggest bank by assets, has lent Anvil $4.5 million to help build the mine. Anvil shares have gain 39 percent this year. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index declined 3.2 percent over the same period. The mine will ship concentrated copper ore across lake Mweru to Zambia for processing on a $2 million barge. The barge carrying the concentrate to Zambia may give local farmers access to new markets in the DRC, Zambian member of parliament Rosemary Chipampe said. ``This is the best thing that has happened to people in my area this year,'' Chipampe said in an interview. ``It is a development that shall create employment in an area where people are traditionally fishermen.''
--Anthony Mukwita in Lusaka and Jonathan Rosenthal in Johannesburg on 27-11-286-1931 or [email protected] Editor: Sanders
