The Musonoi Project is located 3km north of Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The construction scope of the Musonoi Project includes underground mining, dewatering and drainage systems, a concentrator plant compatible with the mine’s production scale, a roasting system, a copper electrowinning system, a cobalt recovery system, as well as supporting power supply, water supply, tailings ponds, and slag yards; new administrative offices and welfare facilities have also been built. The ore types of the Musonoi copper-cobalt deposit consist of oxide ores and sulfide ores (including mixed ores), possessing 1.0265 million tonnes of copper metal and 315,600 tonnes of cobalt metal, making it an ultra-large-scale copper-cobalt mine. The project is designed to process 1.4 million tonnes of sulfide ore and 300,000 tonnes of oxide ore annually. Once full production capacity is reached, the project will yield an annual output of 44,000 tonnes of copper cathodes and 38,000 tonnes of cobalt hydroxide (equivalent to 11,000 tonnes of cobalt metal). The mine’s service life is 11 years (excluding the construction period).
The Musonoi copper-cobalt mine utilizes underground mining with the backfill mining method, developed through a combination of a mixed shaft and a decline. The highest mining elevation is 68mL, and the lowest is 628mL. For sulfide ore processing, a “semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) + ball milling” comminution process is adopted, and the separation follows a “sulfide flotation followed by oxide flotation + middlings regrinding and re-separation” flow to produce copper-cobalt concentrates. For oxide ores, a “two-stage, one-closed-circuit” crushing process is used, and the crushed ore undergoes a “vat leaching-copper/cobalt precipitation” scheme, with filter pressing used to produce crude copper-cobalt hydroxide products. Copper cathodes are produced via “roasting + leaching + copper extraction + copper electrowinning” for sulfide copper-cobalt concentrates, and “leaching + copper extraction + copper electrowinning” for oxide ores. The raffinate (post-extraction solution) undergoes iron/aluminum removal, copper removal, cobalt precipitation, filtration, and drying to produce cobalt hydroxide.
The Musonoi Project officially commenced construction in December 2019. After nearly six years of development, it successfully produced its first batch of copper cathodes with 99.99% purity on September 19, 2025, and subsequently produced the first batch of high-quality cobalt hydroxide on October 19 of the same year. This signifies that the project has successfully completed the construction of the entire industrial chain—from mining and mineral processing to smelting and chemical production—achieving the goal of full-process operation.
The development of the Musonoi Project is of great significance for enhancing the overall strength of Jinchuan Group, maintaining its global leadership in copper and cobalt production, and creating new profit growth points. It makes positive contributions to the prosperity of the DRC’s economy, providing local employment, and promoting China-DRC friendship. Furthermore, it is conducive to further deepening economic cooperation and the development of relations between China and the DRC.
