Gecamines Backs Glencore Plan to Suspend Congo Copper Output
- State-owned miner confident Katanga will return to profit
- Carter Center Urges Suspension of Interest Payments on Debt
Workers operate mining excavators to dig oxide ore from the open pit at Katanga Mining Ltd.'s KOV copper-cobalt mine, part-operated by the Kamoto Copper Co., in Kolwezi, Katanga province, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012. XXX.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/BloombergGecamines SA, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s state-owned copper miner, backed Glencore Plc’s decision to suspend output at Katanga Mining Ltd., rebuffing criticism from the Carter Center that the halt will delay revenue for one of the world’s poorest countries.
“If Glencore feels that this is the best way to bring the mine back to profit, then we are confident in their decision,” Arthur Katalayi, senior executive adviser to Gecamines Chairman Albert Yuma, said in a phone interview from Kinshasa, the capital. Glencore declined to comment and Congo’s Mines Ministry didn’t respond to an e-mailed request for comment.