All the copper from Congo’s new giant mine destined for China

Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines has signed agreements with Chinese subsidiary Zijin Mining and trader Citic Metal to each sell 50% of the copper production from the first phase of its recently launched Kamoa-Kakula mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Ivanhoe reported that it will have no problem holding up its end of the bargain, as the DRC government has fully authorized it to export copper to international markets.

The permission came as Ivanhoe signed a 10-year agreement with the Lualaba Copper Smelter, located outside the town of Kolwezi, to process a portion of Kamoa’s copper concentrate production.

Congo, the world’s No. 1 cobalt producer and Africa’s largest copper miner, reinstated a ban on concentrate exports last month to encourage miners to process and refine the ore locally.

Ivanhoe reported that buyers will be responsible for arranging transportation and shipping the copper to its final destination, initially through the port of Durban, South Africa.

Ivanhoe expects output from the first phase of Kamoa-Kakula to be approximately 200,000 tons of copper per year.

Operations at Kamoa-Kakula are set to increase this year to between 80,000 and 95,000 tons of copper concentrate. After several phases of expansion, the mine’s annual peak copper production will be more than 800,000 tons.

Ivanhoe co-president Robert Friedland believes the project will become the second-largest copper mine in the world and also the highest-ranked among its core operations. The concentrator is expected to produce about 57 percent copper concentrate.

Kamoa-Kakula is a strategic partnership between Ivanhoe Mines (39.6%), Zijin Mining Group (39.6%), Crystal River Global Limited (0.8%) and the DRC government (20%).

The Lualaba smelter, which started operation in early 2020, is 60% owned by Beijing-based China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group (CNMC). Yunnan Copper, based in Kunming, China, owns the remaining 40%.