Kalumines is a copper mining property that includes the Kasonta, Lupoto and Niamumenda concessions, with a combined area of . It is about northwest of

Lubumbashi Lubumbashi (former names: ( French), (Dutch)) is the second-largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, located in the country's southeasternmost part, along the border with Zambia. The capital and principal city of the Haut-Katanga ...

Katanga Province Katanga was one of the four large provinces created in the Belgian Congo in 1914. It was one of the eleven provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1966 and 2015, when it was split into the Tanganyika Province, Tanganyika, Hau ...

, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Start-up

TEAL Exploration & Mining became owner of 60% of the property while the state-owned

Gécamines La Générale des Carrières et des Mines (Gécamines) is a Congolese commodity trading and mining company headquartered in Lubumbashi, in the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a state-controlled corporation founded in ...

owned the other 40%. Informal miners were active on the Kalumines property until early 2006, but they were peacefully removed. TEAL employed over 600 local people, including some of the former informal miners, on the phase one mine. The company initiated social investment projects that included water supply, transport and medical services for the local population of about 10,000 people, as well as the upgrade and construction of roads.

Operation

TEAL announced that mining had started at Lupotu in May 2007 at a rate equivalent to 10,000 tons of copper per year in concentrate. Teal was in the process of commissioning their furnace to produce black copper ingots, with the capacity to handle rather more than half the concentrate. A feasibility study on a larger open pit mine was being prepared. As of 2008 the property was estimated to have annual production capacity of 10,000 tonnes of copper.

Expansion plans

TEAL is a subsidiary of

African Rainbow Minerals African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

(ARM). In their 2011 annual report, (ARM), which had acquired a stake in the property, described it as being in the "exploration to feasibility" phase of development. ARM was investigating the property through a 50-50 joint venture with the Brazilian mining giant

Vale A vale is a type of valley. Vale may also refer to: Places Georgia * Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region Norway * Våle, a historic municipality Portugal * Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municipali ...

, with the joint venture owning 60% of the property. Indicated resources were 780,000 tonnes of contained copper at Lupoto. In addition, inferred resources at this and the other sites in the property were about 600,000 tonnes of contained copper.

References

{{reflist , refs= {{cite web , url=http://www.miningweekly.com/article/teal-gets-notification-from-drc-review-2008-02-27 , title=Teal gets notification from DRC review , author= Christy van der Merwe , date=27 February 2008 , work=Mining Weekly , accessdate=2011-11-07 Copper mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Surface mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2007 establishments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo