Tilwezembe is an open-pit copper and cobalt mine in Lualaba Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo owned by Katanga Mining, a subsidiary of Glencore. Officially, Glencore has shuttered the mine, but the site is still being used by artisinal miners.
History
The mine covers an area of 7.64 km2. It has an indicated nine million tonnes of ore with 1.89% copper and 0.60% cobalt. Mining in the Tilwezambe pit has taken place off and on since 1999. At first this was done by the state-owned Gécamines using contract labor.
In March 2004, Dan Gertler International and Beny Steinmetz Global founded a firm named Global Enterprises Corporate (GEC). In 2004 GEC and Gécamines agreed to rehabilitate and operate the Kananga and Tilwezembe mines. The deal was ratified by presidential decree.[1] A joint venture of Katanga Mining (75%) and Gécamines (25%), named DRC Copper and Cobalt Project SARL (DCP SARL) began mining in 2007. In November 2008, Katanga Mining said they had temporarily suspended mining and ore processing at the Kolwezi concentrator due to the depressed price of cobalt.