Dikulushi Mine

Dikulushi mine
Location
Dikulushi mine is located in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Dikulushi mine
Dikulushi mine
Location in the Congo
LocationLake Mweru
ProvinceHaut-Katanga
CountryDR Congo
Coordinates8°53′38″S 28°16′22″E / 8.893901°S 28.27264°E / -8.893901; 28.27264
Production
ProductsCopper
Silver
ProductionCopper: 400 tonnes/month
Silver: 35,000 ounces/month
Financial year2010
History
Opened2002
Owner
CompanyJCHX Mining Management Co Ltd
Websitewww.jchxmc.com?about_150.html
Year of acquisition2019

The Dikulushi mine is a copper and silver mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located some 23 kilometres (14 mi) west of Lake Mweru and 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Kilwa in the Moero Sector of Pweto Territory, Katanga Province.

The leading DRC copper company Anvil Mining brought the site into production in October 2002 with some 10% Community Trust involvement. The mine has a total of 481,000 tonnes of proven mineral reserves and over 650,000 estimated.[citation needed] While the mine was operational, heavy trucks carrying concentrate crossed Lake Mweru on a large motorised pontoon ferry from Kilwa to Nchelenge, a distance of 44 kilometres (27 mi), from where they drove 2,500 kilometres (1,600 mi) to a copper smelter in Tsumeb, Namibia.[1]

In October 2004 there was a small-scale uprising in Kilwa which was brutally suppressed by FARDC soldiers of the 62nd Brigade. Anvil Mining Congo was accused of providing logistical support to the troops.[2] The company published a statement by the Traditional Chiefs of Moero Sector that firmly denied any involvement by Anvil in the massacre and that praised the company for the benefits it had brought to the region.[3] As of December 4, 2008, Anvil had placed Dikulushi Mine on "Care and Maintenance" due to the low prices of copper.[4]

In March 2010, Anvil sold the mine to Mawson West Limited.[4] The transfer would let Anvil focus on its larger copper projects, including the Kinsevere Stage II project expected to start commissioning early in 2011 and to produce 60,000 tonnes annually.[5] Mawson West reopened the Dikulushi mine in July 2010.[6] The mine was mothballed in 2015 by Mawson West after the mine produced lower than expected yields of copper [7]

Facing financial difficulties, Mawson West was acquired by Galena Private Equity Resources (a subsidiary of Trafigura) and delisted from the Toronto stock exchange.[8][9][10]

The Dikulushi mine was subsequently acquired by the China-based JCHX group (Chinese: 金诚信) in 2019.[11][12]

  1. ^ Anvil Mining: "Dikulushi Operation". Website accessed 30 March 2007.
  2. ^ "Anvil Mining and the Kilwa Massacre, D.R. Congo: Canadian Company Implicated?". MiningWatch Canada. June 16, 2005. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
  3. ^ "Vote of confidence in Anvil" (PDF). The Anvil. 1 (2). October 2005. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference BusSpec was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Jamie Ashcroft (February 26, 2010). "Anvil Mining sells Dikulushi project to Mawson West". Proactive Investors. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
  6. ^ DIKULUSHI Archived 2010-11-29 at the Wayback Machine Mawson West website, accessed: 29 December 2010
  7. ^ Vicky Sidler (January 21, 2015). "Mawson West mothballs Dikulushi mine as shares plummet 42%". Mining Review. Archived from the original on 2021-11-30. Retrieved 2021-11-30.
  8. ^ "BRIEF-Mawson west announces notice of acquisition by galena private equity resources fund". Reuters. 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
  9. ^ Limited, Mawson West (2016-10-20). "Mawson West Announces Notice of Compulsory Acquisition by Galena Private Equity Resources Fund and Notice of TSX Delisting". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2022-07-31. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  10. ^ "Trafigura arm extends $20 mln to Mawson West's Congo copper mine". Reuters. 2016-03-02. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
  11. ^ "China's JCHX on its evolution from global mining contractor to mine owner and developer". International Mining. 2021-07-15. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
  12. ^ Shihua, Tang; Wei, Xu (2019-08-28). "China's JCHX Mining to Pay USD2.75 Million for DRC Copper Mines". Yicai Global. Retrieved 2022-07-31.