(Agence Ecofin) – In the DRC, the national mining company Gécamines inaugurated on Wednesday the Deziwa copper-cobalt mine and its processing plant, located 35 km east of Kolwezi. The project is a partnership between the Congolese company and the Chinese group China Nonferrous Metal Mining Company (CNMC).
Somidez, the company that controls the mine is in fact a joint venture owned 51% by the CNMC and 49% by the Congolese state through Gécamines. The mine, whose construction started in May 2018 required an investment of $ 880 million, should produce 80,000 tonnes of copper and 8,000 tonnes of cobalt annually. CNMC will operate it for nine years, with a possible extension of two years, before transferring management to Gécamines.
“Unlike our other industrial partnerships, the lifespan of our collaboration is already fixed and at the end of it, we will be the only masters on board“Commented Albert Yuma, president of Gécamines, adding that on the basis of known reserves, his company could operate the mine for another seven to nine years.
While Gécamines is suffering the full force of the fall in the price of cobalt and the closure of Mutanda by its partner Glencore, the launch of this new mine seems like a breath of fresh air in the midst of its difficulties.
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