Where is the Kipushi mine?
The Kipushi mine is located near the town of Kipushi in Haut-Katanga province, Democratic Republic of Congo, approximately 30 kilometres southwest of Lubumbashi and directly adjacent to the Zambia border. It is an underground zinc-polymetallic mine owned 68 percent by Ivanhoe Mines and 32 percent by Gécamines. The mine returned to production in 2023–2024 after approximately 30 years on care and maintenance.
Location details
Kipushi is in the southern DRC, in Haut-Katanga province — one of the four provinces formed from the former Katanga province in the 2015 decentralisation reform. The mine site is within the town of Kipushi, which sits at the DRC-Zambia border. Lubumbashi, Haut-Katanga's provincial capital and the DRC's second-largest city, is approximately 30 kilometres to the northeast.
The proximity to the Zambian border and to Lubumbashi's logistics infrastructure is an advantage for Kipushi relative to mines in the more remote parts of Lualaba province. Lubumbashi is connected by rail to Zambia and through the southern logistics corridor to Durban.
What Kipushi produces
Primary metal: zinc (from the Big Zinc Zone, approximately 26 percent zinc grade). By-products: copper, germanium, silver.
Zinc concentrate is the primary export product. Germanium intermediates and copper concentrate are secondary export streams.
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Why is the DRC important for cobalt?
The DRC is important for cobalt because it is the world's largest mined source, accounting for more than 70 percent of global cobalt mine supply. It also holds approximately 46 percent of global cobalt reserves, according to the USGS. No substitutable geography exists at the volumes the global battery industry currently requires.