Louis Watum | The New President of the Chamber of Mines in DRC
Louis Watum the new President of the Chamber of Mines in DRC and Country Manager at Kamoa Copper SA
He has been appointed President of the Chamber of Mines in DRC since February 2020. Louis Watum has been piloting Kamoa’s mega copper and cobalt project since 2014, which could become the second-largest copper mine in the world, according to Ivanhoe’s website. The project is being led by Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines, along with Zijin Mining and the Citic Fund, both of which are Chinese.
Mr Louis Watum joined Ivanhoe Mines in December 2014 as General Manager of the company’s operations in the DRC. In March 2015, he was appointed to an additional position as Managing Director of Kamoa Copper SA.
Currently, Mr Watum is the lead manager of Ivanhoe’s mining development activities for the discovery of the Kamoa copper mine and the Kipushi zinc-copper-silver mine, both located in the DRC.
Before joining Ivanhoe Mines, between 2010 and 2014, he successfully led the development and commissioning of Randgold’s Kibali project (Randgold’s interest in Kibali was then sold to Barrick Gold), following its launch of Moto Gold Mines’ Moto project from 2006 to 2009. He was in charge of operations at the Yatela gold mine in Mali from 2001 to 2005.
