Mutanda Mine

Mutanda Mine

Location
Mutanda Mine
Province	Katanga Province
Country	Democratic Republic of the Congo
Coordinates
Production
Products	Copper

The Mutanda Mine is an open-pit copper mine in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Location

The Mutanda Mine lies about 40 kilometres (25 mi)to the southeast of Kolwezi in the Roan formation. The property is close to the national road and railway line between Kolwezi and Zambia. The Kando River runs about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) from the southern boundary, providing ample water. There is a good supply of electricity from the grid, with a 13.5MW standby generator. At the end of 2010 the project was employing 930 people.

Resource

Annual production capacity is estimated at 20,000 tonnes of copper metal and 8,000 tonnes of cobalt in cobalt hydroxide, with expansion to 110,000 tonnes of copper metal and 23,000 tonnes of cobalt in cobalt hydroxide by the first quarter of 2012. Facilities include a dense media separation concentrator and a hydrometallurgical plant for crushing, screening, milling, pre-leaching, leaching, clarification and SX/EW. In November 2011 Glencore confirmed that it should compete its expansion in December, bring up annual capacity to 110,000 metric tons of copper metal as planned. Glencore made an investment of $650 million to develop this capacity.

Ownership

Glencore International operates the mine and has a 40% stake in the mine through a 50% holding in Samref Congo, which in turn holds 80% of Mutanda. Until recently, the state-owned Gécamines held the remaining 20%. Glencore also indirectly owns 37.5% of Kansuki, a copper and cobalt development project bordering Mutanda covering 185 square kilometres (71 sq mi). In August 2011 Glencore's CEO said the company planned to combine the two properties and to increase its share to over 50%.

In September 2011 the International Monetary Fund asked for explanations from Sodimico and Gécamines, both state owned mining companies, of sales of assets below market value and without publicity. At the time, the IMF was providing loans to the DRC worth $561 million to improve the economy. Gécamines had recently sold its 20% share of the Mutanda project, worth an estimated $600 million, for $137 million. The buyer was Rowny Assets, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands and "associated" with Dan Gertler.