Luanda – Lobito Corridor in the coastal Benguela province (Angola) has taken measures to ensure the transportation of 10 thousand tonnes of copper in the last quarter of 2023, ANGOP has learnt.
The decision to ferry this ore, explored by the Canadian company "Ivanhoe Mines", is intended to reduce travel time on the rail link among the southern African countries.
However, Ivanhoe Mines, which operates the Kamoa-Kakula copper mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR) consortium, which manages the Lobito corridor.
The signing of the memorandum was announced last Wednesday by the co-chairperson of the Canadian mining company, Robert Friedland, without specifying the date and place where it was signed.
This is the first trade deal signed by the LAR consortium, according to a press note.
The source states that the transporting copper via the Lobito Corridor railway line, which connects the DRC and the port of Lobito, over a distance of 1,739 kilometers, is a faster alternative which will significantly shorten travel days.
Meanwhile, Lobito Atlantic Railway is responsible for transporting heavy loads and maintaining the infrastructure of the Benguela Railway (CFB).
Under the concession contract, the consortium assumed the commitment to invest 455 million euros in Angola and another 100 million in the DRC to improve the infrastructure of the Lobito Corridor in terms of capacity and security, as well as to buy 35 locomotives and 1,500 carriages.
The Lobito Railway Corridor extends, in Angola, for almost 1,300 kilometres, passing through the provinces of Benguela, Huambo, Bié and Moxico.
In addition, the infrastructure continues in the Democratic Republic of Congo to Kolwezi, in Zambia, over a distance of 400 kilometers.
The Corridor is also linked to the extensive rail network managed by the National Railway Society of Congo (SNCC). QCB/BA/NIC
