Congo copper output to rise 25 pct next year

Expower plant coal handling plant maintenance pdfports from Congo's southern copperlands will rise 25 percent to over 1 million tonnes next year due to renewed investor confidence following a government mining contract review, the top official in the province told Reuters.

Moise Katumbi, governor of Katanga Province, said companies and their backers were boosting spending following the conclusion of the review last month, which resulted in Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's conceding a small share of its huge Tenke Fungurume copper project to the state. The deal ended years of uncertainty in Congo's mining sector, and analysts widely viewed the outcome as positive for the company, which retained the bulk of its controlling interest in the project. "After Tenke got its revisitation, even the people who had a bit of fear are putting in money. Everyone is financing now, even the banks," Katumbi said. Katanga, Congo's sole copper-producing region and source of about 5 percent of the world's supply of the metal, is on track to produce 800,000 tonnes this year, he said.