Ivanhoe Mining's large Kamoa-Kakula mine in (DRC), Democratic Republic of the Congo, has begun exporting copper concentrates to the international market.
The Canadian mining company said the first trucks left the mine on July 17 and would be shipped exclusively from the port of Durban in South Africa to China's Citic Metals and Zijin Mining.
Ivanhoe signed an agreement in June to sell 50 per cent of copper production from the recently launched first phase of the Congolese copper mine to every Chinese company.
Ivanhoe said that once the export clearance is received (which will take about five days), the truck will leave the Democratic Republic of the Congo and go to South Africa.
Since July 8, there have been robberies and violence in Durban, and protests have called for the release of former South African President Jacob Zuma, who began serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court.
Transnet, the local logistics company responsible for overseeing the country's port and terminal operations, announced force majeure on 12 July, suspending terminal operations at the ports of Durban and Richards Bay due to security concerns.
Ivanhoe did not mention the unrest in South Africa's two most populous provinces. Most of the riots and looting were concentrated in Zuma's hometown of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, where the country's economic capital, Johannesburg, and the political capital, Pretoria, are located.
