IVANHOE MINES AGREE MOU WITH SNCC TO BUILD RAILWAY

Ivanhoe mine sign MOU with SNCC to rebuild the railway spur line which will support a new era of operation at the Kipushi zinc-copper mine.

Ivanhoe Mines Ltd which is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC’s) national railway company Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer du Congo (SNCC), to rebuild a railway spur line to support a new era of operation at the Kipushi zinc-copper mine.

Ivanhoe is expected to appoint a consultants to undertake a front-end engineering design study to assess the scope and cost of rebuilding the spur line from the historic Kipushi mine to the main Lubumbashi–Sakania railway at Munama.

Ivanhoe’s Executive Chairperson, Robert Friedland; “A daily train from Kipushi will replace the equivalent of 50 road trucks, resulting in the significant safety and environmental benefits to the DRC, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa; reduced road and border congestion; and decreased air pollution,”

According to him; ”The reactivated spur line also will provide significant economic and social benefits to residents of Kipushi and the southern DRC provinces of Haut-Katanga and Lualaba, allowing for efficient transportation of supplies to and from the area.

The 34km project which has been inactive since 2011 is expected to start construction of the line late in 2018.

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