The Manono-Kitolo mine is a former tin and

coltan Coltan (short for columbite–tantalites and known industrially as tantalite) is a dull black metallic ore from which the elements niobium and tantalum are extracted. The niobium-dominant mineral in coltan is columbite (after niobium's original A ...

mine, which also contains one of the largest

lithium Lithium (from , , ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the ...

reserves globally, in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. The mine is located in southern

Tanganyika Province Tanganyika () is one of the 21 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. Tanganyika, Haut-Katanga, Haut-Lomami and Lualaba provinces are the result of the splitting up of the former Katanga province ...

. The Manono-Kitolo mine has reserves amounting to 120 million tonnes of

ore grading 0.6%

thus resulting 0.72 million tonnes of

History

Original mine

The mine was run by

Géomines Géomines (''Compagnie Géologique et Minière des Ingénieurs et Industriels belges'') was a Belgian mining company active in the Belgian Congo and then in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was established in 1910, and exploited a large de ...

from 1915 to the mid-1980s, producing 140,000 tons of

cassiterite Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, SnO2. It is generally opaque, but it is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem. Cassiterite was the chief tin ore throughout ancient history and remains ...

(

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

) and 10,000 tons of

columbite Columbite, also called niobite, niobite-tantalite and columbate, with a general chemical formula of , is a black mineral group that is an ore of niobium. It has a submetallic luster, a high density, and is a niobate of iron and manganese. Niobite ...

tantalite The mineral group tantalite manganese.html" ;"title="iron.html" ;"title="iron">Fe, manganese">Mn)Tantalum">Ta2oxygen">O6is the primary source of the chemical element tantalum, a corrosion (heat and acid) resistant metal. It is chemically simil ...

(

). Since the mine's closure, companies have focused on the large lithium reserves at the site.

Lithium project

In 2018 studies reported a significant high-grade lithium deposit, estimated to have the potential of 1.5 billion tons of lithium

spodumene Spodumene is a pyroxene mineral consisting of lithium aluminium inosilicate, Li Al( Si O3)2, and is a commercially important source of lithium. It occurs as colorless to yellowish, purplish, or lilac kunzite (see below), or alternatively yellow ...

hard rock situated in Manono in central DRC. AVZ Minerals, an Australian company, initially claimed to hold a 75% stake in a joint venture with the '' Congolaise d'Exploitation Minière'' (25%), a State-owned enterprise. In 2021, AVZ agreed to sell a 24% stake in the venture to the Chinese battery manufacturer

CATL Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) is a Chinese battery manufacturer and technology company founded in 2011 that specializes in the manufacturing of lithium-ion battery, lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy st ...

for $240 million.

Ownership dispute

Ownership of the Manono-Kitolo lithium project has become contested. In 2021, Chinese miner

Zijin Mining Zijin Mining Group Co., Limited is a multinational mining company headquartered in Longyan, Fujian, China. It is one of the largest producers of gold, copper, and zinc in the country, with operations across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. ...

lawfully acquired a 15% stake in Dathcom Mining SA, the project's holding company, from Cominière. AVZ Minerals challenged this sale, initiating legal action which was repeatedly rejected by Congolese courts. In February 2023, the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Ministry of Mines revoked AVZ Minerals' mining permit for the Manono project, citing delays in project development. Subsequently, the rights were awarded to Manono Lithium SAS, a joint venture between

(61%) and state-owned Cominière (39%). One of the main elements of the new mine plan is to refurbish the nearby Mpiana-Mwanga hydropower station to supply energy for mining operations.

Manono tailings project

As of 2022, Canada-based ''Tantalex Resources Corporation'' was seeking to raise funds to reprocess

tailings In mining, tailings or tails are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different from overburden, which is the waste rock or other material ...

from the historical Manono mine.

References