Kamoto Copper Co.'s chief executive Tuesday said the company has opened a new copper processing plant on the site of its Kolwezi copper-cobalt mine in Congo's mineral-rich southern province of Katanga.

George Forrest said the plant will accelerate the rehabilitation, not only of Congo's state-owned mining company Gecamines, co-operator of the mine, but all other copper-cobalt mining areas throughout southern Congo.

"With an investment of $426 million, KCC is set to create 12,000 jobs and to produce 150,000 tons of copper per year and 5,000 tons of cobalt per year in the next six years, making of it the biggest producers of copper-cobalt in the world," he said.

Forrest said KCC's assets include the Kamoto concentrator, the Luilu metallurgical plant, the Kamoto underground mine and various oxide open pit resources, in the Kolwezi area of Congo.

KCC received official approval by the Congolese government in July 2005 and has since operated as a privately owned company in a joint venture with Gecamines.

Forrest said that under the agreement, KCC owns 75% of the operation while Gecamines holds the remaining 25%.

Original mining activity in the Kolwezi area was performed by Union Miniere du Haut Katanga under the Belgians and then following independence of the DRC, by Gecamines.

At its peak in 1986, Gecamines produced 476,000 tons of copper and 14,500 tones of cobalt, 63,900 tons of zinc, 34.3 tons of silver plus cadmium and other minor metals, with the majority of production from the Kolwezi area.

In the Kolwezi area, combined average production from the underground and open pit mines fed to the concentrators was slightly above 4% in copper and 0.35% in cobalt. By 1993, production had fallen to 45,900 tons of copper, 2,920 tons of cobalt, 4,100 tons of zinc and no reported silver. Currently, there is virtually no production.