The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is displacing Peru as the world's second largest copper producer. This achievement has a name: Kamoa-Kakula, a huge, low-cost copper and cobalt deposit that began commercial production in mid-2021. The mine is owned by a joint venture formed by Canada's Ivanhoe, China's Zijin and the DRC government. Production at the site took a significant leap this year with the completion of a project to remove bottlenecks at its facilities, which has allowed it to production from the 330,000 tons of fine copper in concentrate recorded in 2022 to more than 400,000 tons estimated for this year.

But there is more. The partners in the project are developing its third phase, which will be completed in 2024 after an investment of US$3 billion, and which will increase the mine's production to 650,000 tons of fine copper per year, making it one of the largest copper mines in the world. increase the mine's production to 650,000 tons of fine copper per year, making it one of the largest copper mines in the world.

Investments in the mining sector are the main drivers of the DRC's projected 6.4% GDP growth by 2024. In addition to the Kamoa-Kakula expansion, work will begin on a logistics corridor with an investment of more than US$1 billion to bring production out of the Central Africa's copper belt via Angola, as well as a US$850 million road project to connect the country to the Tanzanian coast in East Africa.

Mining projects have also been announced for US$1.9 billion of investment backed by the United Arab Emirates, mainly to produce gold, while Ivanhoe signed an agreement with the DRC's state mining company, Gecamines, to bring the Kipushi zinc, copper, silver and germanium mine back into operation, which could happen by the end of 2024. With a production of 270,000 tons of zinc concentrates, it would be one of the largest zinc mines in the world.