Gecamines Aims to Diversify into Minerals for Energy Transition
Congo’s state-run mining company, Gecamines, aims to explore for minerals critical to the energy transition, such as lithium, tin, and rare earths, said the company’s Chairman Alphonse Kaputo Kalubi, yesterday 7th February.
The company, which was once one of the world’s leading copper and cobalt producers in the 1980s, hopes to increase production to 100,000 tonnes of copper per year and diversify its operations.
Kaputo mentioned that Gecamines’ geologists will organize campaigns to prospect for various minerals including lithium, tin, cobalt, coltan, titanium, wolframite, gold, and rare earths. He encouraged potential investors to consider “win-win partnerships” to extract these minerals.
However, Gecamines faces challenges, including illegal artisanal mining on its sites, which results in the smuggling of resources, including gold and tin, tantalum, and tungsten ores.
Kaputo emphasized the need for industrial mines to work alongside artisanal miners, where possible, in order to improve conditions and prevent the exploitation of the company’s concessions.
He stated that “we can no longer tolerate the disgraceful conditions in which artisanal diggers work, and we can no longer tolerate that our state and Gecamines…be robbed of their riches.”
