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Print[Ferro-Alloys.com]Democratic Republic of Congo has authorised exports of copper and cobalt concentrate for mining companies that hold waivers, customs documents showed, after the country appeared to issue a blanket ban on them.
Bernard Bosele Pilipili, Haut-Katanga provincial director for customs and excise, on Wednesday banned the export of copper and cobalt concentrates, but on Thursday said companies that have waivers from the mines minister would be allowed to export concentrate.
Congo - the world's top producer of cobalt and Africa's biggest copper producer - has banned exports of copper and cobalt concentrate since 2013 to encourage domestic processing, but it has issued regular waivers to the ban.
"There is still the issue of an electricity deficit, which prevents mining companies from building processing facilities," Haut-Katanga Governor Jacques Kyabula Katwe said on Friday.
"It's better to let them work, but that they show us their plans for increasing smelting capacity."
Ivanhoe Mines, whose Kamoa-Kakula mine in Congo's Lualaba province produced its first copper concentrate on Wednesday, said it has filed an application and is in talks with the mines minister to obtain a waiver.
Ivanhoe Mines president Marna Cloete said the company will utilise local smelter capacity as much as possible, and is assessing the construction of a smelting complex at Kamoa-Kakula to produce blister and anode copper.
source:Mining Weekly
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