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Ivanhoe Mines to upgrade Inga II turbine
DR CONGO IVANHOE Mines’ Kamoa-Kakula copper pro- of the Mwadingusha plant.
ject in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Friedland also stated that “the supply of reli-
is set to receive more reliable power supplies as able hydropower is critical to Kamoa-Kakula
Turbine 5 at the Inga II hydropower plant (HPP) achieving its goal of becoming the world’s ‘green-
undergoes a major upgrade. est’ copper mine and being among the world’s
Ivanhoe Mines Energy DRC said it had lowest greenhouse gas [GHG] emitters per unit
signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) of copper produced.”
with the DRC’s state-owned La Société Nationale The Inga II HPP is located on the Congo river,
d’Electricité (SNEL) to upgrade the turbine. the deepest and one of the longest rivers in the
The planned upgrade to the turbine will raise world, with large rapids and waterfalls that make
its output by an estimated 162 MW, part of which it ideal for harnessing the power of water to pro-
will go towards powering the project, with any duce sustainable energy.
excess added to the national power grid. DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi said:
Ivanhoe Mines executive co-chairman Rob- “Partnerships such as the one between SNEL
ert Friedland said the upgrade would be crucial and Ivanhoe allow us to inject additional capac-
to the ongoing development of the Kamoa- ity into our electrical grid and improve the living
Kakula project. conditions of Congolese citizens by increasing
“A long-term, sustainable supply of electricity their access to electricity. At the same time, the
is essential to Ivanhoe’s vision to develop Kamoa- additional power that will be generated will allow
Kakula into one of the world’s largest copper pro- Kamoa-Kakula to [benefit] its mining products
jects and doing it in an environmentally, ethically in the DRC. This will create additional revenue
and socially responsible manner.” for the country, as well as employment opportu-
The public-private partnership between nities for our people.”
Ivanhoe Mines and SNEL began with a similar He concluded that “We are fortunate to be
upgrade of the Mwadingusha HPP, which is operating in the DRC, which is blessed with
nearing completion and promises to generate incredible hydropower potential. Hydropower,
78 MW of power for the first two phases of cop- being clean, reliable and sustainable, is the best
per production at Kamoa-Kakula, according to energy solution to support our long-term devel-
Friedland. opment priorities as we continue to look for ways
Combined, this means a projected 240-MW to reduce our impact on the environment, pro-
output from both plants. vide meaningful and long-lasting benefits to the
Ivanhoe also claims that the upgrading can be communities in which we operate, and produce
accomplished at a significantly reduced cost per the copper the world urgently requires.”
megawatt generated compared to the upgrading
Week 17 29•April•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9
