ERG to Invest $1.8 Billion in Doubling Copper and Cobalt Production in Africa
Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), a mining company supported by Kazakhstan, has announced its plan to invest $1.8 billion in doubling its African copper and cobalt production.
The expansion in the Democratic Republic of Congo is expected to take place over a four-year period, and is driven by the increasing demand for metals necessary for the transition to green energy.
The CEO, Benedikt Sobotka, believes that the rise in demand for battery materials as more electric vehicles are produced puts ERG in a favorable position.
ERG currently produces 200,000 tons of copper and 25,000 tons of cobalt each year from its mines across the central African copperbelt. The CEO believes that if the projections for future electric vehicle production are accurate, there will be a need for much more cobalt and copper.
To support its projects in Congo, where electricity supply from the grid is unreliable, the company is exploring the possibility of investing in small hydro power plants, as well as solar and battery storage.
Mr. Sobotka expressed skepticism regarding the company’s previous plan to build a 600-megawatt coal-fired plant in Mozambique, due to the lack of adequate transmission capacity and potential difficulties in finding buyers for the excess power.
ERG is owned by the same shareholders who previously controlled Eurasian Natural Resources Corp., which was once listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The UK’s Serious Fraud Office has been investigating ENRC since 2013 for alleged corruption in its deals in Congo. ERG is not under investigation and denies any wrongdoing. The CEO stated that while ERG has no immediate plans to go public, if it did, it would likely list on a stock exchange in Canada.
ERG also expects to begin producing platinum group metals from Zimbabwe in the next two years. The construction of a concentrator plant at the Bokai platinum project is slated to start by the end of the year and could ultimately be the size of Anglo American Platinum’s Unki mine, which produces approximately 200,000 ounces of platinum group metals annually.
