SMM11, 23 Feb: copper production in the country rose 8.7 per cent to 908695 tons in the first nine months of 2018 from a year earlier, while cobalt production jumped 92.5 per cent to 115116 tons, the central bank said on Thursday.

Gold production rose 20.2 per cent to 28064 kg over the same period, according to the central bank.

The country's rich mining resources have attracted the interest of overseas investors. On Nov. 19, Barrick Gold Company (Barrick Gold) said at an investor conference in London that it was interested in buying more copper mines in (DRC), Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"Barrick has the best competitive advantage in the Congo if there is a world-class opportunity to develop copper resources in the region," Willem Jacobs, a senior executive at the company, said on a live webcast. Ahead of the $6.1 billion merger with Randgold Resources, he said, "there is no doubt that it is an opportunity for us to take advantage of the large amount of business we have in the Congo to gain world-class mineral deposits".

Mark Bristow, chief executive of Randgold, said Barrick, based in North America, South America, Africa and the Middle East, had been focused on merging assets, noting that the process involved in-depth research and had great growth potential. Bristow will become the new chief executive of Barrick. Rod Quick, head of the Randgold program and evaluation, said Barrick was open to copper assets and that the copper project would strengthen the company's strategic partnerships with other companies.

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