China's Zijin Mining said on Tuesday its board had approved investment in a US$769 million smelter for its Kamoa-Kakula copper project alongside Ivanhoe Mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo .
The 500,000-tonne-per-year direct-to-blister plant will be the largest copper smelter in Africa and one of the largest single-line smelters in the world, Ivanhoe said last week when announcing the award of the basic engineering contract to China Nerin Engineering Co. Known as Kamoa Copper, Ivanhoe and Zijin will own 39.6per cent each, the DRC government 20per cent and Crystal River Global Limited 0.8per cent.Around 35per cent of current copper concentrate output from Kamoa-Kakula, which started producing in May, is treated at the nearby Lualaba smelter, majority-owned by China Nonferrous Mining Corp Ltd , while the rest is transported to international smelters.