(Ecofin Agency) - Katanga Mining, subsidiary of Swiss Giant Glencore, said on Tuesday March 8, 2016, that as a result of a geotechnical failure at its KOV open-pit project in Democratic Republic of Congo, two miners died and 5 others were reported missing. The company also revealed that the failure caused an unknown amount of damage to the dewatering infrastructure in the pit.

The firm mobilized its research and rescue team to find the missing workers and assess damages and valorization of the infrastructure.

The accident occurred while miners were working on dewatering the pit. In 2007, dewatering was initiated after the mine then inactive was flooded, by 10 to 12 cubic meter of water.

In September last year, the Company decided to stop processing copper and cobalt in DRC, for 18 months, and continue investing up to $880 million into on-going processing plants upgrades and stripping of KOV and Mashamba open pits by establishing a new leach plant.

The KOV mine is the world’s biggest source of high-quality copper. It contains four ore bodies namely, Kamoto East, Oliveira, Virgule and FNSR, accessible via the Kamoto East and KOV pits. With it, Katanga Mine produced in 2015, 225,000 tons of copper and cobalt for a turnover of $670 million.

Louis-Nino Kansoun