On the afternoon of May 31, local time in DRC, Luaraba Copper Smelter S.A.S, a subsidiary of CNMC, signed a 10-year contract with Kamoa Copper S.A. for consigned processing of copper concentrates from Kamoa-Kakula. The contract was signed by Yang Wei, General Manager of Luaraba Copper Smelter S.A.S, and Mark Farren, Chief Executive Officer of Kamoa Copper S.A., on behalf of both parties.
Luaraba Copper Smelter S.A.S is a subsidiary of CNMC, which mainly operates the Lualaba Pyrometallurgical Smelting Plant with a total investment of 430 million U.S. dollars as the largest modern copper and cobalt pyrometallurgical smelter in the DRC. The project adopts the world's advanced "double side-blown smelting + multi-spray gun top-blown converting" smelting processes and "one-conversion one-suction" acid production processes. The first phase of the project has a production capacity of 400,000 tonnes (dry tonnes) of copper concentrates and an annual production capacity of approximately 118,000 tonnes of crude copper per year. Commercial production will be achieved in the second quarter of 2020, with a total of 68,052 tonnes of crude copper, 149,969 tonnes of sulphuric acid and 17,102 tonnes of liquid sulphur dioxide produced in 2020.
Kamoa-Kakura copper project is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin Mining, Crystal River Global Limited and the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. on May 25, 2021, the first phase of Kamoa-Kakura copper mine, which processes 3.8 million tonnes of ore per annum, officially started copper concentrate production.
On June 1, Mr Rochelle de Villiers, Co-CFO of Kamoa Copper S.A., personally escorted the first 200 tonnes of copper concentrates to Lualaba Copper Smelter S.A.S. A short ceremony was held in a friendly atmosphere to hand over the copper concentrates.
Both Luaraba Copper Smelter S.A.S and Kamoa Copper S.A. are newly-established enterprises located in the city of Kolwezi, Luaraba Province of the DRC, and are in the upstream and downstream industrial chains of non-ferrous metal resources extraction and smelting processing. This combination of strengths and complementary advantages has laid a solid foundation for mutual benefit and win-win cooperation in the next ten years and beyond, creating favorable conditions for high-quality development in the 14th Five-Year Plan period.
