Likasi (formerly official names: Jadotville (
French) and Jadotstad (
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
)) is a city in
Haut-Katanga Province
Haut-Katanga (French for "Upper Katanga") is one of the 21 new provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. Haut-Katanga, Haut-Lomami, Lualaba, and Tanganyika provinces are the result of the dismember ...
, in the south-east of the
Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
.
Demographics
Likasi has a population of around 635,000 (2015).
[ During the 1990s the ]United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
set up feeding centres and refugee centres in and around Likasi to assist with the refugees fleeing ethnic violence in Shaba, whose arrival had increased the population of the town some 41,000.
History
Shinkolobwe
Shinkolobwe, or Kasolo, or Chinkolobew, or Shainkolobwe, was a radium and uranium mine in the Haut-Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), located 20 km west of Likasi (formerly Jadotville), 20 km south of Kamb ...
mine, 20 km west of Likasi (then called Jadotville), was described by a 1943 Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
intelligence report as the most important deposit of uranium yet discovered in the world. The uranium from this mine was used to build the atomic bombs used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
In 1961, during the United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
intervention in the Katanga conflict, a company of Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
UN troops deployed to Jadotville was besieged and eventually surrendered to troops loyal to the Katangese Prime Minister Moïse Tshombe
Moïse Kapenda Tshombe (sometimes written Tshombé) (10 November 1919 – 29 June 1969) was a Congolese businessman and politician. He served as the president of the secessionist State of Katanga from 1960 to 1963 and as prime minister of the D ...
.
Economy
Likasi remains a centre for industry, especially mining, and is a transport hub for the surrounding region. There are mines and refineries supplied by nearby deposits of copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
and cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, p ...
.
A $17 million crushing plant was installed in nearby Kamatanda
Kamatanda is a region just north of Likasi in the Haut-Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
It gives its name to an open-pit copper mine, a railway junction, an abandoned airport and a residential area of Likasi.
The Sanga peo ...
that became operational at the start of 2019.
The crushed ore is fed to the Heap Leach Unit in Panda
The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes use ...
, then the copper-containing solution is taken to the electrolysis room at the Shituru Factories in Likasi, where high-quality copper electrodes are produced.
There is also an abandoned gold mine in Likasi, which has been commercially depleted but is still dug by artisanal miners.
Transport
Likasi is served by a station on the national railway system. The trains are mostly cargo trains and not passenger trains.
Climate
Likasi has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: ''Cwa'').
See also
* Railway stations in DRCongo
Railway stations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) include:
Maps
UN Map WestUN Map East*
Stations served by passenger trains
Stations served by rail
Existing
Matadi–Kinshasa Railway
* Ango-Ango
* Matadi
* Mpozo
...
* Siege of Jadotville
In the Siege of Jadotville in September 1961, a small contingent of the Irish Army's 35th Battalion, designated "A" Company, serving as part of the United Nations Operation in the Congo (''Opération des Nations Unies au Congo'', ONUC) were b ...
Notes
External links
Likasi- Jadotville
{{Authority control
Populated places in Haut-Katanga Province