Satellite connectivity provider SES and Africa-focused mining company Ivanhoe Mines has reached a new agreement to continue to provide the Kamoa-Kakula copper project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with high-speed satellite-based connectivity services.
The SES O3b high-throughput, low-latency medium Earth orbit connectivity will support operational technologies and staff welfare.
“Our long-standing partnership with SES has already helped us to improve the profitability of our extraction and supported our goal of improving the safety and welfare of all of our staff. Additionally, O3b connectivity services will also help us leverage the latest applications, communicate in real time and maximise our productivity,” said Kamoa Copper head of technology Anil Udayabhanu.
This agreement builds on a successful five-year relationship between SES and Ivanhoe Mines and comes at a time of significant investment in low-latency, high-capacity solutions in the region following the boom in the African mining industry, SES said.
The SES O3b constellation is powering connectivity for leading mining operators, driving a digitalisation revolution for the sector that is helping to increase profitability while improving worker safety and accountability. This model enables operators to cost-effectively scale connectivity as needed throughout the lifecycle of a mine, ensuring assets have the right amount of bandwidth at any given time to meet digitalisation requirements.
“We are proud to continue delivering reliable high-speed connectivity to DRC’s mining industry through our O3b high-throughput and low-latency connectivity services, enabling mining companies to implement new services and applications that will improve workers’ safety, digitalise operations and maximise profitability through increased agility and automation,” said SES sales Africa VP Caroline Kamaitha.
The Kamoa-Kakula copper mine is a very large, near-surface, flat-lying, stratiform copper deposit with adjacent prospective exploration areas within the Central African Copperbelt, approximately 25 km west of the town of Kolwezi and about 270 km west of the provincial capital of Lubumbashi.
Kamoa-Kakula is powered by clean, renewable hydro-generated electricity and is projected to be among the world’s lowest greenhouse gas emitters per unit of metal produced, Ivanhoe said.
Kamoa-Kakula began producing copper concentrates in May 2021 and began commercial production on July 1, 2021. Phased expansion is projected to make Kamoa-Kakula the second largest copper complex globally. The project is a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin Mining Group, Crystal River Global and the government of the DRC.