Copper Intelligence and CoTec Holdings Corp. have entered into a joint venture to pursue opportunities to process historical copper tailings in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as rising demand for copper continues to place pressure on global supply.
The partnership will target historical tailings opportunities across the DRC’s established copper districts, where decades of mining activity have generated significant volumes of mining waste since the 1950s.
The joint venture will explore opportunities to recover additional value from these historical tailings and redundant copper deposits. CoTec will contribute technologies designed to enhance the extraction of rare earth and strategic materials, while Copper Intelligence will provide regional expertise to identify and develop high-potential copper opportunities.
The companies intend to seek funding from the US International Development Finance Corporation and other potential funding sources once projects reach sufficient scale.
CoTec CEO Julian Treger said the partnership provides the company with a long-term partner with experience in a major copper-producing region and will support efforts to secure assets where its technologies can be deployed.
Copper Intelligence chairman Andrew Groves said the agreement strengthens the company’s vertically integrated approach and expands its strategy for developing copper opportunities in the DRC.
The joint venture company is being incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, with two third-party investment vehicles associated with CoTec executives also participating in the venture.
Any opportunities identified through the partnership will be subject to detailed legal and technical due diligence, followed by binding agreements on an asset-by-asset basis before development can proceed. Commitments to development will also require approval from independent members of the joint venture and CoTec boards.
The partnership comes as copper demand continues to rise, driven by growing requirements for electricity infrastructure, renewable energy and data centres, increasing the focus on new sources of supply and opportunities to recover copper from existing mining waste.
