China Molybdenum Company Limited (CMOC) plans to invest an additional US$2.5 billion in a copper and cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as global demand for cobalt soars for use in electric-vehicle batteries. CMOC has an 80% stake in the Tenke Fungurume Mine. Covering an area of over 1,500 square kilometres, the mine produced 182,600 tonnes of copper and 15,400 tonnes of cobalt in 2020. It is one of the world's highest-grade copper and cobalt mines.

The company's board of directors has approved plans to further develop the copper and cobalt resources at the mine, expand production, and optimize the existing production process to reduce production and operational costs.

CMOC has appointed China Ruilin Engineering Technology Co and China Metallurgical North (Dalian) Engineering Technology Co to compile a feasibility study for the project.

The planned investment will come from corporate funds and bank debt. As part of the expansion project, which is expected to be completed in 2023, the company will build three production lines which are expected to increase the mine's output of copper by 200,000 tonnes per year and of cobalt by 17,000 tonnes per year.

Hong Kong and Shanghai-listed CMOC specializes in mining and trading of base and rare metals. The company is the largest global tungsten producer, the second largest cobalt and niobium producer, one of the top seven molybdenum producers, and a leading copper producer. 

Another expansion project at the Tenke Fungurume Mine, known as 10K, is progressing well and is expected to be up and running by the end of this year. 10K focuses on oxidized ores typically associated with open pit mining, but the project is focused more on deep underground mining for sulfide ore bodies. Deep mining requires heavier capital investment.

In December 2020 CMOC agreed to acquire Freeport-McMoRan’s 95% interest in the Kisanfu copper-cobalt deposit, also in the DRC, for US$550 million.

Kisanfu, located in Lualaba Province, is one of the world’s largest, highest-grade undeveloped cobalt and copper projects. It is located 33 kilometres southwest of the Tenke Fungurume Mine.

CMOC expects significant synergies from its two operations in the DRC, Kisanfu and Tenke Fungurume, further strengthening its position in the cobalt and the electric vehicles materials space. The greenfield Kisanfu mine project is being undertaken with Chinese battery maker CATL.