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NEW CONGO'S KOLWEZI SEEN
KNOCKING COBALT PRICES
KOLWEZI, Democratic Republic of Congo, June 20 (Reuter) - The Kolwezi
tailings project in new Congo could knock world cobalt prices to around $12 a pound
when it comes into full production in 2000, America Mineral Fields Inc said on
Friday.
Cobalt prices are currently around $23 a pound, having soared in April amid tension
as Laurent Kabila's rebels advanced in their campaign to overthrow former Zaire
President Mobutu Sese Seko. Kabila ousted Mobutu last month.
The vast Kolwezi copper/cobalt tailings project was awarded to U.S.-based AMF in
April. AMF owns 51 percent of the project which it will jointly develop with the state
mining company Gecamines.
"We're looking at an explosion on the supply side. No-one in their right mind would
expect cobalt prices to stay where they are," said AMF director Richard Garnett.
"This project (Kolwezi) comes on around 2000, then we can expect cobalt prices to
fall to around $12 a pound."
He said cobalt prices would likely continue falling and could hit $4 a pound by
2005.
Kolwezi currently produces about 12,000 tonnes of cobalt a year but the real
wealth lies in 70 years worth of 1.4 million tonnes of tailings dams or waste dumps
which cover a vast area.
At full production Kolwezi could produce about 6,000 tonnes of cobalt and 50,000
tonnes of copper, AMF said earlier.
The tailings contain about 1.4 million tonnes of copper grading 1.34 percent and
about 270,000 tonnes of cobalt grading 0.26 percent, the company said.
Garnett said about 92 percent of the copper could be recovered and about 78
percent of the cobalt.
"The recovery is so high because it's so easy," AMF's Jean-Claude Placquet told
Reuters.
"Where else is there four to five percent copper grade equivalent already mined,
already crushed and ready and waiting to be processed?"
Placquet said the cash cost of cobalt production at Kolwezi, taking copper into
account, would be less than $2 a pound. The cash cost of copper production wold be
20 to 30 cents per pound.
The Kolwezi project is likely to last 27 years and AMF also has the right to process
new tailings from the existing Kolwezi mine. The company will also dredge the
Musomoi River which runs through the mine area to recover tailings.
AMF is currently conducting a feasibility study to find which tailings contain the
richest copper and cobalt deposits.
"We will mine the richest first so as to take advantage of the present high prices,"
Placquet said.
"Our project and this country will put so much cobalt onto the market that the price
will drop."
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Francis Scavo |
