Acting Special Coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment Matza’s Travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania
MEDIA NOTE
OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON
AUGUST 21, 2024
Acting Special Coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) Helaina Matza will travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania from August 21-28 to advance ongoing U.S.-led investments in the development of the Lobito and Trans-Africa Corridor and to explore opportunities to expand the economic corridor to the Indian Ocean.
While in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania,
Acting Special Coordinator Matza will also meet with government officials and private sector partners to identify new sustainable infrastructure investment opportunities and deepen our collaboration.
A cargo of copper cathodes is headed to Baltimore after arriving by train at the port of Lobito in Angola on Monday.
www.mining.com
Copper exports from DRC to the US begin via Lobito Atlantic Railway
Staff Writer |
August 22, 2024 | 9:00 am
News Africa USA Copper
The first shipment of copper destined for the United States at the Port of Lobito, Angola. (Image: Trafigura)
The first US shipment of copper from mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to be transported by the Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR) has been loaded.
A cargo of copper cathodes is headed to Baltimore after arriving by train at the port of Lobito in Angola on August 19, global commodities trader Trafigura Group, which is part of a consortium with a concession for the line,
said in a statement.
The shipment follows several previous shipments of copper to ports in Europe and the Far East since the Lobito Atlantic Railway
took over the concession in January of this year.
LAR, a joint venture backed by Trafigura, Portuguese construction group Mota-Engil and railway operator Vecturis, was granted a 30-year concession in 2022 to operate the 1,300-kilometer rail network.
The six-day rail journey demonstrated “the time-efficient western route to market that is now available for minerals and metals produced in the Congolese Copperbelt,” Trafigura said.
The Lobito corridor is seen as a key export route from mines in Congo and Zambia for minerals critical to the energy transition, including copper and cobalt.
The US and EU, under the Group of Seven’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, are supporting the project as part of efforts to counter China’s dominance in the Central African Copperbelt.