Copper is traditionally known as the "red" metal after its natural color. However, it is also known as a "green" metal for the green patina that it acquires due to weathering. Indeed, patinized copper is the architectural focal point of many modern buildings for its natural look. Beyond this, however, copper can truly be cited as the "green" metal both for its role in protecting the natural environment through its use in energy-saving applications and for the achievements that have been realized in the production of the metal in an environmentally sound manner.

The Company’s Usoke processing facility is located in Lubumbashi, approximately 10km from the Etoile mine. The Usoke plant is the Company’s primary processing facility, with existing installed capacity to produce 31,500 tonnes of copper cathodes and 2,400 tonnes of cobalt salt per annum.

A new leach SX/EW plant at the Etoile mine site is expected to be commissioned by Q2 2014. Detailed engineering has been completed and a significant portion of the capital requirements have already been procured and are at the site. This plant will primarily treat both stockpiled and current HMS rejects.

It is designed to produce 20,000 tonnes per year of copper cathodes and up to 4,500 tonnes of cobalt as a salt, with a front-end feed capacity of 3,600 tonnes per day.

(Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo is owed an estimated $3.7 billion in unpaid customs duties and fines by companies operating in its copper-rich Katanga province between 2008 and 2013, according to an unpublished report commissioned by the public prosecutor's office.

Installation de 47M$ pour 10000tpa de Cu 99.99% sur tas de minerais pauvres laissés par la mine de Kounrad (porphyry copper).

Les nouveaux codes minier et pétrolier de la RDC doivent inclure des mesures rigoureuses en matière de transparence, d’appels d’offres et de droits des communautés locales

The Africa Mining Vision was adopted by Heads of State at the February 2009 AU summit following the October 2008 meeting of African Ministers responsible for Mineral Resources Development. It is Africa’s own response to tackling the paradox of great mineral wealth existing side by side with pervasive poverty.

The AMV is holistic. It advocates thinking outside the “mining box”. Accordingly it’s not just a question of improving mining regimes by making sure that tax revenues from mining are optimized and that the income is well spent – although that is clearly important. Rather it’s a question of integrating mining much better into development policies at local, national and regional levels.

That means thinking about how mining can contribute better to local development by making sure workers and communities see real benefits from large-scale industrial mining and that their environment is protected.

It also means making sure that nations are able to negotiate contracts with mining multinationals that generate fair resource rents and stipulate local inputs for operations.

And at regional level, it means integrating mining into industrial and trade policy.

A burgeoning interest among academics, policy - makers and civil society groups has developed concerning Africa’s extractive sector – particularly its mining codes – which are now at the centre of a wider policy debate over natural resource governance and economic development on the continent. This article reviews the evolution of Africa’s regulatory codes in the mining sector, which has undergone what Bonnie Campbell describes as “three generations” of liberalization since the 1980s. We also highlight new voluntary, regional and transnational initiatives, driven by a host of he terogeneous actors from Africa and abroad, which constitute a “fourth” generation of mining codes and natural resource governance practices which place primary emphasis on transparency and accountability by both mining companies and host governments. This new generation of natural resource governance initiatives presents new opportunities as well as unique challenges, particularly with the growing role of emerging economies such as the BRICS in Africa’s mining sector. We conclude by assessing future trends and charting policy options

Le projet en cours pour une révision du code minier de la DRC de 2002 a fait l'objet d'une énorme quantité d'études de consultants d'organisations internationales, d'ONG et de sociétés de Conseil. La mission de Cayambe est une étude plus dans cet immense océan d'informations.