"The Canadian company Ivanhoe Mines, which operates the Kamoa-Kakula copper mines, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), announced yesterday the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the consortium that holds the concession for the Lobito Corridor railway line to transport copper ore to the Port of Lobito", says a statement sent to VerAngola.
The document was signed with Lobito Atlantic International – responsible for the concession of the Lobito Corridor for 30 years – "and will allow the transport of 10 thousand tons of copper concentrate already in the last quarter of 2023", adds the note.
It should be noted that this memorandum is the first commercial agreement signed by the consortium composed of Trafigura, Mota-Engil and Vecturis S.A.
Currently, the note adds, the Canadian company is shipping "the ore by road to ports in South Africa (Durban), Namibia (Walvis Bay), Mozambique (Beira) and Tanzania (Dar es Salam)", with which transports through the rail line with more than 1700 kilometers that "connects the DRC and the Port of Lobito is a faster alternative, shortening the travel time significantly".
As an example, "the round trip from Kamoa-Kakula to Durban takes 50 days, a period that decreases to just 20 days, in the case of the Lobito Corridor", adds the note.
Quoted in the company's statement, Robert Friedland, founder and co-executive chairman of Ivanhoe Mines, considered that "the Lobito Corridor is poised to become a crucial trade route for copper and other critical minerals from a uniquely strategic region in Africa... metals that are so desperately needed for our planet's energy transition".
"The Lobito Corridor is the shortest and most direct export and import route from the Copperbelt to the international transoceanic market, which should provide faster turnaround times and lower costs. Most importantly, logistics on the rail corridor will incur emissions significantly lower carbon emissions than the alternative by truck – further reinforcing Kamoa-Kakula's commitment to producing ultra-green copper," he added.
The concession for the aforementioned corridor was awarded to Lobito Atlantic Railway at the end of last year. However, the concession formalization ceremony only took place on July 4 of this year, where the Presidents of Angola, DRC and Zambia were present, "given the relevance of this infrastructure for the economic and social development of the three countries".
"Under the concession contract, the consortium assumed the commitment to invest 455 million euros in Angola and another 100 million in the DRC, to improve the Lobito Corridor infrastructure in terms of capacity and security, as well as to buy 35 locomotives and 1500 carriages", reads the statement.
