Gecamines, Democratic Republic of Congo’s state-owned copper and cobalt miner, raised $75 million to extract more minerals from waste material at its Big Hill tailings site in Lubumbashi.
(Bloomberg) — Gecamines, Democratic Republic of Congo’s state-owned copper and cobalt miner, raised $75 million to extract more minerals from waste material at its Big Hill tailings site in Lubumbashi.
The expansion will include the construction of a new hydro-metallurgical plant at the company’s Societe Congolaise pour le Traitement du Terril de Lubumbashi, or STL. The project to process minerals including copper cathodes, a germanium precipitate and zinc oxides will extend the life of the site by 30 years, STL said in a statement.
Congo is already the world’s second-biggest copper producer and the largest source of key battery mineral cobalt. The Big Hill site is a massive pile of Gecamines’ historic mining waste that can be reprocessed with new technology to reclaim valuable metals like germanium, which is essential for semiconductors.
The funding is a big step for Gecamines, once one of the world’s biggest copper producers before it was nearly destroyed by decades of mismanagement and war. The STL expansion is a sign that new management plans to rebuild the company’s production and add value through local refining.
Part of the funding comes from the renewal of an existing $20 million prepayment agreement with Trafigura Group in return for the extension of the exclusive commercial contract for the purchase of zinc oxides, Trafigura said in an email.
The rest of the financing came from Congo’s Rawbank SA and STL’s own funds, the company said. Production is expected to begin in August, STL said.
–With assistance from Archie Hunter.
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