Kipushi Mine (formerly Prince Léopold Mine) is an

underground mine Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

in the

Democratic Republic of the 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 ...

, near the town of Kipushi 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 ...

. This was an active producing mine between 1925 and 1993, as of 2006 there was an estimated 16.9 million tons of ore in the measured and indicated categories, with a grade averaging of 16.7%

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

and 2.2%

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 ...

. Since 2011, the Kipushi Mine is now majority owned by

Ivanplats Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company focused on advancing its three principal projects in Southern Africa: the development of new mines at the Kamoa-Kakula copper discoveries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of ...

. A feasibility study was conducted in 2022, which found 11.78 million tonnes of Zinc at an ore grade of 35.34%. In September 2022, construction started to re-open the mine, with production planned to start in late 2024.

References

Copper mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Lead mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Zinc mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Mining in Haut-Katanga Province Underground mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 1925 establishments in the Belgian Congo Non-renewable resource companies established in 1925 {{DRCongo-geo-stub