Ivanhoe Mines Energy announced on Monday April 26 that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Electricity Company (SNEL) for the modernization of turbine 5 of the Inga II hydroelectric dam in Kongo Central province ( north-west of DR Congo), as part of the renovation of the Mwadingusha hydroelectric plant to supply its future Kamoa-Kakula copper mine.
“This public-private partnership will allow the mining company to obtain the 162 MW of power produced by Inga II to power the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex and its associated processing plant, both currently under construction. This new power supply agreement is an important step in our sustainability journey, as it will provide Kamoa-Kakula with priority access to a total of 240 megawatts of clean, renewable electricity from the modernized turbines at the Mwadingusha hydropower plants and Inga II, ”Ben Munanga, CEO of Ivanhoe Mines Energy, a Canadian mining company, told reporters.
The company has already started renovating the Mwadingusha hydropower plant with the aim of also helping to feed the mine by generating 78 MW for the first two phases of copper production at Kamoa-Kakula.
As a reminder, the Canadian company announced on December 1, 2020 that it had obtained a series of loans for a cumulative amount of USD 420 million in order to speed up work on the large Kamoa-Kakula project, which is scheduled to enter production for 2021.
