Up to 10,000 tonnes of copper concentrate to be exported via Angolan Lobito Ocean Port in Q4 2023
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MOU is first commercial agreement under new concession for exporting metals from the DRC using the Lobito Atlantic Rail Corridor
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Distance from Kamoa-Kakula to Lobito Port is just over half that compared with Durban, South Africa
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Rail corridor passes through Ivanhoe’s Western Foreland licences and within five kilometres of Kamoa-Kakula
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Rail corridor set to transform economic and social development of the DRC, as well as its neighbouring countries, accelerating regional industrialization
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The ceremony celebrating the award of the 30-year concession to new rail operator was attended by the Presidents of DRC, Angola and Zambia
KOLWEZI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN; OTCQX: IVPAF) Executive Co-Chair Robert Friedland and President Marna Cloete announce today that Kamoa Copper S.A. (Kamoa Copper) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Lobito Atlantic International SARL (“LAI”, or the “Consortium”), for the transportation of Kamoa-Kakula’s copper concentrate by rail to the Atlantic Ocean port of Lobito in Angola.
The rail line linking the DRC Copperbelt to the port of Lobito, Angola is known as the “Lobito Atlantic Railway Corridor” or “Lobito Corridor”. The rail line extends for 1,739 kilometres from Lobito to Kolwezi in the DRC, passing within five kilometres of the Kamoa-Kakula licence boundary and through the Western Foreland exploration licences (shown in Figure 2).
In July 2022, the Consortium was formally awarded a 30-year concession for railway services and support logistics in Angola. LAI is a consortium comprised of leading global commodities trading group Trafigura Pte Ltd; Mota-Engil Engenharia e Construcao Africa SA (“Mota-Engil”), an international construction and infrastructure management company that first started operating in Angola in 1946; and Vecturis SA, an independent rail operator.
The Consortium has committed to invest $455 million in Angola and up to a further $100 million in the DRC on the improvement of the Lobito Corridor’s rail infrastructure, capacity and safety, including rolling stock consisting of over 1,500 wagons and 35 locomotives. There is also potential for additional investment in the future as the opportunity is explored to further extend the Lobito Corridor into Zambia.
The Lobito Corridor will reduce pressure on the country’s other logistics corridors. This is expected to not only reduce the cost of exporting from, but also reduce the cost of importing into the DRC Copperbelt. Thereby, accelerating DRC’s, social and economic development, as well as the industrialization of the wider region.
The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, His Excellency Mr Felix Tshisekedi, made the following comments in a recent television interview with La Radio-Télévision Nationale Congolaise (RTNC):
“I am very committed to cooperation with our neighbours. We gain two partners in the [Lobito Corridor] project, Angola and Zambia. This will benefit our populations nearby and further away… Indeed that is the goal, to create national integration, resulting in ease of movement for goods and people inside our country... So that the various regions can engage in trade among themselves.”
“We have no time to stop and enjoy our small victories. We need to work hard…The interest of the people must be taken into account and we are focused on that… The priority for me is to protect our population and ensure they are healthy… I want this country to be stable so that we can focus on our development over the long term.”
Link to full interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3llKuoPqlk
and go to
https://ivanhoemines.com/news/2023/ivanhoe-mines-announces-mou-to-commence-exports-of-concentrate-from-kamoa-kakula-copper-complex-via-lobito-atlantic-rail/ |
