The first shipment of copper from mines in the DRC to the United States, transported via the Lobito Atlantic Railway, is due to arrive in America in the next few days. The main objective of the Lobito Corridor is to create the fastest and most efficient route for exporting critical minerals from the Central African Copperbelt to the United States and Europe.
A shipment of copper cathodes is on its way to Baltimore after arriving by train at the port of Lobito in Angola on 19 August, Trafigura Group, which is part of a consortium with a concession for the line, said in a statement.
The rail journey, which took just six days, demonstrated ‘the time efficiency of the western route now available for minerals and metals produced in the Congolese copper belt’, the company said.
The Lobito corridor is considered a key export route for mines in the DRC and Zambia, for minerals critical to the energy transition, including copper and cobalt.
The Lobito corridor is considered a key export route for mines in the DRC and Zambia, for minerals critical to the energy transition, including copper and cobalt.
The US-bound cargo was loaded onto the container ship MSC SAMU, following several shipments of copper to ports in Europe and the Far East since Lobito Atlantic Railway took over the concession in January.
The US is helping to fund the Lobito Corridor, a revival of a 100-year-old railway line that will transport critical minerals across the region. It links the DRC with the Angolan port of Lobito to the west. The entire project will cost at least $10 billion, according to estimates by Angolan officials. In addition to the railway, it includes roads, bridges, telecommunications, energy, agribusiness and a planned extension to the lucrative Copperbelt province in Zambia.
The US involvement in Lobito is not an isolated act, but part of a strategy to reverse its diminishing influence in Africa, where other countries such as China, Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have been gaining ground, according to FT.
Source : Bloomberg and The Financial Time