| Tilwezembe | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
|
Tilwezembe
|
|
| Province | Katanga Province |
| Country | Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Owner | |
| Company | Katanga Mining |
| Website | www.katangamining.com |
| Production | |
| Products | Copper, Cobalt |
Tilwezembe is an open-pit copper and cobalt mine in Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo operated by Katanga Mining, a subsidiary of Glencore.
The mine covers an area of 7.64 square kilometres (2.95 sq mi). It has an indicated nine million tones of ore with 1.89% copper and 0.60% cobalt. Mining in the Tilwezambe pit has taken place off and on since 1999. At first this was done by the state-owned Gecamines using contract labor. For a while, artesanal miners took over.[1]
In March 2004, Dan Gertler International and Beny Steinmetz Global founded a firm named Global Enterprises Corporate (GEC). In May 2004 GEC signed a preliminary agreement with Gécamines, finalized in September that year, to rehabilitate and operate the Kananga and Tilwezembe mines. The deal was ratified by presidential decree.[2] In January 2008 Katanga Mining finalized acquisition of Nikanor PLC for $452m.[3] A joint venture of Katanga Mining (75%) and Gecamines (25%) began mining in 2007.[1] In November 2008, Katanga Mining said they had temporarily suspended mining and ore processing at the Kolwezi concentrator due to the depressed price of cobalt.[4]