ℹ️ MINES. RDC : « La fonderie géante de Kamoa-Kakula a démarré son four» #news #kolwezi

ℹ️ MINES. DR Congo: "The giant Kamoa-Kakula smelter starts up its furnace, a major step for the African copper industry." #congodrc #africa #kolwezi #news #mines #economy #lualaba The Kamoa-Kakula copper smelter officially started up its furnace on November 21, 2025, in Lualaba Province, Democratic Republic of Congo. Presented as the largest and most environmentally friendly smelter in Africa, the plant is integrated into the Kamoa-Kakula complex, home to the largest copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It will process the concentrate extracted from the site to produce blister copper anodes, intended for the final refining stages. Canadian company Ivanhoe Mines, the smelter operator, confirmed that the first feed of concentrate is expected before the end of 2025, but did not specify when the first tons would be delivered to customers. With a construction cost estimated in 2021 at nearly €601 million, the facility has an annual capacity of 500,000 tons, and its production has already been pre-sold to three customers, including Trafigura. The event was marked by a traditional ceremony led by Chief Musokantanda Sabuni Kafweku, symbolizing a bridge between ancestral practices and the project's industrial ambitions. A flame from a traditional lwanzo lwa mikuba furnace was transported to the modern smelter site to light the inaugural torch. Robert Friedland, Founder and Co-Chairman of Ivanhoe Mines, emphasized the significance of this achievement: “This smelter sets a new global standard for sustainable copper production. Our goal is to demonstrate that economic development and environmental responsibility can go hand in hand,” he stated. From an environmental perspective, the Kamoa-Kakula smelter is powered by clean, renewable hydroelectric electricity. This places it among the copper producers with the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per ton of metal produced, based on Scope 1 and 2 emissions, and significantly reduces Scope 3 emissions, thus meeting the growing demands of international markets for sustainable supply chains. From an economic perspective, the Kamoa-Kakula smelter offers several advantages, including: First, it enables unprecedented local processing of mineral resources, reducing dependence on raw ore exports. Secondly, it generates specialized jobs and promotes the transfer of technical skills to the Congolese workforce. Thirdly, it positions Lualaba province as a strategic industrial hub in the region. The furnace has reached 800°C and will continue to heat up for several days while the critical systems—boiler, steam, concentrate dryer, electrodes, and acid circuit—are finalized for commissioning. The power supply, a vital issue for a facility of this scale, has been secured through a 60-megawatt UPS system providing two hours of instant backup power and 180 megawatts of diesel generators installed on-site. Copper concentrate production began in May 2021. Prior to this start-up, the unit already had an inventory of approximately 37,000 tons of copper in concentrate form. This volume is expected to decrease to approximately 17,000 tonnes by 2026, when the smelter will be operating at full capacity. Thanks to the ongoing expansions of Phases 2 and 3, Kamoa-Kakula is poised to become one of the world’s largest copper producers, and with this start-up, the Kamoa-Kakula smelter reinforces its status as a global mega-project for copper production.