Affirma Capital, a former private equity subsidiary of Standard Bank, announced plans to invest in electric power to facilitate access to electricity at mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.
The announcement, which was made on Monday, January 8, indicated that the company, a 34.64% shareholder in Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC), will invest US$145 million in electricity to help mines better carry out their operations in the field.
The project will be implemented by CEC, a company that handles the distribution of electricity to most of the mines operating in the Central African Copper Belt. The energy company already has a 34-megawatt solar power plant in operation, which is expected to be bolstered by another 60-megawatt plant as early as January 2024, sources said.
Indeed, Affirma Capital wants to launch its project to strengthen in electrical energy in a context where access to electricity is still a major challenge for the Democratic Republic of Congo, despite the fact that the country is counted among the major African producers of copper in the world. A handicap that poses serious problems for operators in the mining sector in the country.