DRC to produce 10% of world cobalt

LUBUMBASHI – OM Group Inc., the world’s largest cobalt refiner, aims to produce more than 4 500 tonnes of cobalt – about 10 per cent of global supply — from its Congo joint venture in 2006, the unit’s manager said yesterday.

Philippe Bouchart of Societe pour le Traitement du Terril de Lubumbashi (STL), mainly owned by OM Group, added that he hoped the price of cobalt would remain steady at US$14 (N$162,20) per pound. Cobalt, used largely in the aerospace industry, has seen its price fluctuate wildly due to fighting in Congo, a collapse of airline industry demand and the booming Chinese economy.”By 2006 we will be producing over 4 500 tonnes – about 10 per cent of the world’s annual production of cobalt,” Bouchart told Reuters at the company’s plant in the southeastern Congolese mining town of Lubumbashi.”In 2004 we produced just under 3 000 tonnes and this year we will produce only 2 500 tonnes as we had to shut down operations to work on the furnace in January, February and March,” he added.STL’s other owners besides OM Group Inc include Congo’s Forrest Group and Gecamines, the state copper and cobalt miner.STL is processing the Big Hill, a 14,5 million tonne pile of tailings that are the result of more than 70 years of mining by Gecamines in Katanga, a province that was once the economic powerhouse of Congo and is home to President Joseph Kabila but remains politically unstable.At its peak Gecamines was producing nearly 500 000 tonnes of copper and up to 18 000 tonnes of cobalt in Katanga but decades of corruption and lack of maintenance brought the company to its knees and production has all but stopped.Bouchart said STL has invested US$130 million so far in the 17-year project that is situated at the foot of the giant mound of tailings next to the old Gecamines factory, much of which has long since been gutted of all its equipment.Congo is struggling to recover from the decades of dictatorship that ruined Gecamines and a five-year war that sucked six neighbouring countries into a conflict that made investors wary of returning to rebuild the mineral-rich country.Bouchart said he was optimistic about the future of Congo, a country the size of Western Europe that is due to hold elections next year but lacks infrastructure and remains riddled with armed groups.-Nampa-ReutersCobalt, used largely in the aerospace industry, has seen its price fluctuate wildly due to fighting in Congo, a collapse of airline industry demand and the booming Chinese economy.”By 2006 we will be producing over 4 500 tonnes – about 10 per cent of the world’s annual production of cobalt,” Bouchart told Reuters at the company’s plant in the southeastern Congolese mining town of Lubumbashi.”In 2004 we produced just under 3 000 tonnes and this year we will produce only 2 500 tonnes as we had to shut down operations to work on the furnace in January, February and March,” he added.STL’s other owners besides OM Group Inc include Congo’s Forrest Group and Gecamines, the state copper and cobalt miner.STL is processing the Big Hill, a 14,5 million tonne pile of tailings that are the result of more than 70 years of mining by Gecamines in Katanga, a province that was once the economic powerhouse of Congo and is home to President Joseph Kabila but remains politically unstable.At its peak Gecamines was producing nearly 500 000 tonnes of copper and up to 18 000 tonnes of cobalt in Katanga but decades of corruption and lack of maintenance brought the company to its knees and production has all but stopped.Bouchart said STL has invested US$130 million so far in the 17-year project that is situated at the foot of the giant mound of tailings next to the old Gecamines factory, much of which has long since been gutted of all its equipment.Congo is struggling to recover from the decades of dictatorship that ruined Gecamines and a five-year war that sucked six neighbouring countries into a conflict that made investors wary of returning to rebuild the mineral-rich country.Bouchart said he was optimistic about the future of Congo, a country the size of Western Europe that is due to hold elections next year but lacks infrastructure and remains riddled with armed groups.-Nampa-Reuters