[UAH] A CHINESE CONSORTIUM TO REVIVE KILEMBE MINES

Chinese consortium selected to revive Uganda copper mine

By Elias Biryabarema | Reuters – 7 hours ago

By Elias Biryabarema

KAMPALA (Reuters) - A Chinese consortium has won a concession to revive production at Uganda's Kilembe copper mines in the west of the country near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a government official said on Friday.

The mine was abandoned in the early 1980s due to political turmoil in Congo and a fall in copper prices, but in recent years the government has been seeking an investor to resume production, encouraged by attractive world copper prices.

Uganda's Department of Geological Survey and Mines said Kilembe has an estimated 4 million tonnes of ore, of which 1.98 percent is estimated to be pure copper and 0.17 percent cobalt.

Jim Mugunga, spokesman for the finance ministry, said a total of five companies from China, Zambia and Australia had expressed interest in the mine, but the Chinese consortium led by Tibet Hima Industry Co Ltd had been selected.

"The committee met on Wednesday and approved the Tibet Hima led consortium as best evaluated bidder," Mugunga said.

In recent years China has emerged as one of the leading sources of investment and infrastructure financing for the prospective crude oil producer.

Last month China's Sinohydro Corp won a contract to build a 600 megawatt hydropower dam on the River Nile, expected to cost about $1.6 billion.

Mugunga said the consortium led by Tibet Hima had said it would invest $175 million in the first three to five years of the concession and would expand a nearby hydropower dam that supplies electricity to the mine from its current 5 megawatts capacity to 12 megawatts.

The concession is expected to last between 25 and 30 years. The consortium will pay a signing fee of $4.3 million and an annual concession fee of about $1 million, Mugunga said.

 

 

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