Katanga Mining Ltd Ord KATFF

Trafigura bets on Congo even as Glencore shuts mine

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https://www.ft.com/content/ade02c22-ec0a-11e9-a240-3b065ef5fc55

Swiss commodity trader is part of consortium raising money to fund processing plant

Swiss commodity trader Trafigura is helping to finance a $450m Congolese copper and cobalt facility even as Glencore prepares to shut its mine in the resource-rich African country.

Trafigura is part of a consortium including the First Bank of Nigeria and Africa Finance Corporation that is backing a processing plant at the Mutoshi mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to two people familiar with the financing.

Trafigura is betting that the Mutoshi mine, which is owned by DRC-based company Chemaf, can become a competitive producer just as demand starts to rise. It will also put money into the financing in return for supplies of cobalt, the people familiar with the plan said.

The previous plan was to seek a listing for the company, according to a person familiar with the matter, but that has now been abandoned. Following the financing to build the plant, Mutoshi hopes to produce 16,000 tonnes of cobalt annually by the end of next year.

Consultants at Benchmark Minerals Intelligence forecast that cobalt demand for lithium ion batteries will increase from 75,000 tonnes in 2019 to 152,000 tonnes in 2024, out of a total cobalt market of 213,000 tonnes.