Leading Copper Cathode Exporters in DRC: SICOMINES, KCC, and TFM in 2022
Of the forty copper mining companies operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo, there is a top three that is in pole position in production.
In FY 2022, SICOMINES, KCC and TFM were the three largest producers and exporters of copper cathodes in the DRC with 247,696 tons respectively; 214,993 tons; and 127,055 tons.
These three mining companies therefore exported, on their own, 589,744 tons of copper cathodes in 2022 out of an export volume of the mining industry estimated at 1 million,774,550 tons of copper cathodes, or 33.2%.
It should be noted that overall in 2022, the mining industry produced 2 million 359 824 tonnes of copper in total (smelting copper metal, cathode copper and copper metal contained in the concentrate).
The copper cathode is the first pure product from the ore. After remaining for several weeks in a copper sulphate electrolysis, the cathodes are removed and are used as copper anodes in electroplating.
