November 21, 2008 Katanga Mining confirmed that, given the depressed price of cobalt, the company has temporarily suspended
mining operations at the Tilwezembe open pit and ore processing at the Kolwezi concentrator in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Thus, the company will not be producing cobalt concentrate. The ccmpany will continue to focus on its mining operations at the Kamoto underground mine, the T-17 open pit and the Kamoto concentrator.
November 21, 2008 Reported that given the depressed price of cobalt, the Company has temporarily suspended mining operations at the Tilwezembe open pit and ore processing at the Kolwezi Concentrator. Thus, the Company will not be producing cobalt concentrate.
June 30, 2008 Mining of ore at Tilwezembe only recommenced in late April with the re-start of the Kolwezi concentrator. Total tonnes mined during the quarter were 1,598,767 tonnes of waste and 156,632
tonnes of ore. An updated mineral resource model was received at the end of June. It is being used to improve the grades delivered to the Kolwezi concentrator and to reduce the mining costs.
The Kolwezi concentrator processes the ore form the Tilwezembe open pit. In the current quarter, it processed 201,419 tonnes of ore and produced 13,463 tonnes of concentrate with a grade of 11.72% copper and 5.48% cobalt. The amount of ore processed has been well ahead of forecast since recommencement of production in April but metallurgical performance has been below expectation because of the requirement to effect a low mass pull in order to keep the concentrate grades high. To improve the situation, a batch process strategy has been implemented and an audit is underway at both Tilwezembe and the Kolwezi concentrator to reconcile differences
reported between mine and mill feed grades.
As reported in 2008, cobalt was being produced and sold (as of May/08) from the open-pit oxide resource.
