The DRC crosses the 1 million tonnes of copper record in 8 months of production
The mining industry in the Democratic Republic of the Congo produced 1,041,445 tonnes of copper at the end of August 2020 against 919,937 tonnes at the same period in 2019, i.e. production up 13.2%, says the Central Bank of Congo in its Digest of statistical information n ° 37.
The partners of Gécamines and other mining companies alone produced 1,026,157 tons of copper against 15,288 tons for this company of the Congolese State Portfolio, or 98.53% of the production carried out during the first 8 months of the year.
In 2019, the DRC produced 1,420,386 tonnes of copper for the whole year, a record for the past two decades.
The red metal enjoys the best prices on the international market at the moment. During this month of September, the current price of copper is around $ 6,293 per tonne in the market.
In July 2020, the copper price stood at $ 6,372 per tonne, up 10.7% over one month and up 7.3% over one year.
Note that copper is the third most used metal in the world after iron and aluminum. It is also one of the oldest to have been exploited by man, the first copper objects dating back more than 7,000 years. A reddish metal, copper is an excellent thermal and electrical conductor. Like gold and silver, it is ductile and easily malleable. Copper is very popular in the electrical and electronic industry: manufacture of cables, batteries, electronic circuits, but also in piping, transport, or the manufacture of coins. Copper is also widely used in alloys like bronze or brass.
