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The top box shows each cables unique reference number, when and by whom it originally was sent, and what its initial classification was.
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If you find meaningful or important information in a cable, please link directly to its unique reference number. Linking to a specific paragraph in the body of a cable is also possible by copying the appropriate link (to be found at theparagraph symbol). Please mark messages for social networking services like Twitter with the hash tags #cablegate and a hash containing the reference ID e.g. #08KINSHASA515.

Reference ID	Created	Released	Classification	Origin
08KINSHASA515	2008-06-11 05:22	2011-08-24 01:00	UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY	Embassy Kinshasa

VZCZCXRO6104 
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO 
DE RUEHKI #0515/01 1630522 
ZNR UUUUU ZZH 
R 110522Z JUN 08 
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8106 
RUEHLS/AMEMBASSY LUSAKA 1456 
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 4083 
INFO RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC 
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC 
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC 
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC 
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC 
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK 
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE 
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0081 
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0031 
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0162 
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0054 
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1191 
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 0117 
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE 
RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 KINSHASA 000515 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE PLEASE PASS USAID 
STATE PLEASE PASS USGS 
DEPT FOR AF/S, EEB/ESC AND CBA 
DOE FOR SPERL AND PERSON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EMIN ENRG EINV EIND ETRD ELAB CG ZA SF
SUBJECT: DRC/ZAMBIA COPPER BELT BOOMS, BUT GOVERNMENTS MEDDLE 
 
REF: A) LUSAKA 349 B) LUSAKA 376 C) KINSHASA 294 D) KINSHASA 406 E) LUSAKA 344 F) 07 KINSHASA 1133 
 
 
¶1. (U) This cable represents innovative reporting and commercial 
advocacy collaboration between Embassies Pretoria, Kinshasa, and 
Lusaka. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Summary: International companies are investing in 
ambitious mega-projects on both sides of the DRC/Zambia 
copper-cobalt belt, despite significant government interference. 
The region represents the world's second greatest source of copper, 
after Chile, but it is widely viewed as possessing richer 
concentrations than Chile. The region is the world's greatest 
source of cobalt, which has suffered related price volatility. 
Companies are racing to bring on-line new production to take 
advantage of robust prices and demand, as well as to beat 
competition and political risk. Companies face significant risk 
from regulatory uncertainty, transportation/logistics, power 
supplies, and skills shortages. Zambia is marginally ahead of the 
DRC in the competition for the dubious title of greater government 
interference. DRC faces greater transportation, power, and skills 
challenges. Western companies are advancing high standards for 
social/skills development and safety/environmental standards. 
Chinese and Indian investors do not follow the same standards, but 
are promising significant infrastructure investment. The 
sedimentary-hosted geology is complex; there is no standard 
cookie-cutter mine in the copper belt, and the newest developments 
are increasingly situated outside the traditional belt's 
infrastructure and geology. End Summary. 
 
Geological Wonderland 
--------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) The African copper-cobalt belt (or Lufilian Arc) hosts an 
incredible quantity and variety of sedimentary-hosted oxide and 
sulphide copper-bearing deposits with associated cobalt. It is a 
world-scale deposit on a par with the South African Bushveld for 
platinum and Witwatersrand for gold. Reasonable geologists can 
debate for a long time on the complex geological phenomenon of 
sedimentation and the successive infiltration of salts, oxidants, 
organics, and other chemicals, in advance of tectonic action that 
formed the unique deposits at each mine. Each mine deposit requires 
a unique mining approach and chemical processing to extract an 
intermediate or final copper product for sale. But, this is usually 
the easy part, compared to grappling with government interference 
and logistics in and out of the mine. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Embassy Pretoria Mining/Energy Officer and Specialist 
visited mines on both sides of the DRC/Zambia copper belt May 12-23 
to assess developments in the sector, covering six mines in the DRC 
and four in Zambia. These mines represent the "A-list" of 
international investors and eventually will generate over one 
million tons of copper production per annum - with significant 
quantities of higher-value cobalt. Embassy Kinshasa Economic 
As

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Viewing cable 08KINSHASA515, DRC/ZAMBIA COPPER BELT BOOMS, BUT GOVERNMENTS MEDDLE