Multinational commodity trader Trafigura and Kamoa-Kakula have forged a long-term agreement, signed in Cape Town on Wednesday, to transport minerals via Angola’s Lobito Atlantic Railway. The agreement spans a minimum term of six years.
Under the agreement, Trafigura will transport up to 450,000 tons per year from 2025, as part of the railway’s one-million-tons-per-year capacity. Kamoa-Kakula will transport between 120,000 – 240,000 tons per year of copper products from 2025, with an initial commitment of 10,000 tons in 2024.
“These commitments announced today support the consortium’s aim to grow the volumes on the corridor so that it becomes the leading rail transport link in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Jeremy Weir, Executive Chairman and CEO of Trafigura.
Connecting Central Africa’s Copperbelt region to Angola’s Port of Lobito, the Lobito Atlantic Railway aims to provide a more efficient and lower-carbon route for bringing copper, cobalt and other transition metals to market.
“The transformative economic corridor will unlock more copper projects due to the lower logistical costs. Cheaper logistics increase the amount of economically recoverable copper across the Copperbelt, as cut-off grades can be lowered,” said Robert Friedland, Founder and Executive Co-Chairman of Ivanhoe Mines, joint venture partner in Kamoa-Kakula.
