実際に動いているもの
Oxidised copper minerals dissolve in sulfuric acid. That means the metal can be leached, extracted and plated into finished cathode at the mine site, and leave the country as a 99.99% product rather than as a concentrate. It is the same metal as the Chilean route and a completely different journey.
- 素材
- Copper
- 種類
- Oxide and mixed copper ore of the Central African Copperbelt
- 起点
- Democratic Republic of the Congo — Kolwezi and the Lualaba copper-cobalt belt
工程ごと、越境地点ごとに
Democratic Republic of the Congo · Kolwezi, Lualaba 保管者 Operators with Gécamines as state partner (採掘会社)
A richer orebody than most
Open-pit and underground mining of sediment-hosted ore that runs several times the grade of a typical porphyry.
なぜここか: The Central African Copperbelt is one of the richest copper provinces on Earth, and it carries cobalt with it.
Democratic Republic of the Congo · Hydrometallurgical plant on site 保管者 Operators (化学)
Leaching with acid
Crushed ore is leached in sulfuric acid. Copper and cobalt dissolve together into a pregnant leach solution.
残りはどうなったか: Acid is trucked in or made on site. In a landlocked country, the reagent supply chain is as hard as the metal one.
なぜここか: No smelter needed, so no reason to ship the ore anywhere.
Democratic Republic of the Congo · Same plant 保管者 Operators (精製業者)
Solvent extraction and electrowinning
An organic solvent picks the copper selectively out of the solution and releases it into a clean electrolyte; current then plates it onto cathode blanks. Cobalt is precipitated separately as a hydroxide.
なぜここか: This is the whole point of the route. The finished metal is made at the mine, in the country that owns the orebody.
South Africa · To Durban, Dar es Salaam or Beira 保管者 Hauliers and traders (トレーダー)
Two thousand kilometres by road
Cathode is bundled and trucked across one or two borders to a port. Delays at the border are measured in days.
なぜここか: Being landlocked is the permanent tax on this journey — and it is why the cobalt beside it travels the same road.
China · Wherever it is bought 保管者 Fabricators (製造業者)
Straight into the wire market
Cathode from Kolwezi is the same product as cathode from Guixi and trades on the same terms. Nobody downstream can tell which route it took.
なぜここか: Once it is cathode, copper is copper.
これは計算例である。公表された標準的な歩留まりと回収率を用いて、明示された出発量を追うものであり、比率は検証可能だが、特定の荷物の記録ではない。経路に関する事実——どの国を経由するか、どのような工程を経るか、なぜその素材を他の場所では処理できないか——は公開情報から編集している。