By March 2023, Boss Mining is expected to be operating at full capacity to produce an average of 1,800 tonnes of copper cathode and 300 tonnes of cobalt hydroxide a month

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ERG and its JV partner Gécamines restart operations at Boss Mining in the DRC. (Credit: Eurasian Resources Group)

Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) and La Générale des Carrières et des Mines (Gécamines) announced the restart of operations at Boss Mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The phased restart of the copper-cobalt operations will focus on processing historically mined fines over the following 16 months for producing copper cathodes and cobalt hydroxide.

By March 2023, Boss Mining is expected to be operating at full capacity to produce an average of 1,800 tonnes of copper cathode and 300 tonnes of cobalt hydroxide a month.

Located in the Lualaba and Haut-Katanga provinces, Boss Mining was temporarily put into care and maintenance in early 2019. It allowed ERG and its joint venture (JV) partner Gécamines to evaluate various investment paths and carry out studies to enhance the economics and sustainability of operations.

ERG intends to develop and ramp up the operations in a sustainable manner, enabling positive and longer-term social, environmental, and economic outcomes.

ERG CEO Benedikt Sobotka said: “We are not only celebrating the return to production at this time, but also our long-standing partnership with Gécamines and its professional team, without whom this restart would not have been possible. ERG believes that collaboration is the key to building a better future.”

Sobotka added that the current phase of the restart will generate nearly 750 jobs for DRC citizens.

In addition, Boss Mining is renewing its five-year environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) commitments.

Boss Mining’s assets in Kakanda and Luita include open cast mines, concentrator plants, crushing beneficiation, and an electroextraction facility.