Katanga Mining says it doesn’t expect to find survivors from Congo landslide

By The Canadian Press

TORONTO – Katanga Mining Ltd. says it doesn’t expect to find any survivors from a landslide at an open pit copper mine in Congo that it operates for Glencore.

The publicly traded mining company, which lists its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange, says only three bodies have been located despite an extensive search over 10 days since the landslide occurred.

A local official previously said last week that two bodies had been recovered and five people were missing.

Richard Muyej, special commissioner of Lualaba province, says five of the seven people were employees of the Kamoto Copper Company, a subsidiary of the Swiss mining company Glencore, while two were guards.

Katanga (TSX:KAT) is a publicly traded subsidiary of Glencore that operates the mining complex.

It said Thursday in a statement from Zug, Switzerland, that one of the three recovered bodies has yet to be identified.

“Despite all available resources being made available for the search effort, no further individuals have been located,” Katanga said.

“Therefore, it is with deep regret that the company must now assume that any individual who was in KOV open pit at the time of the incident will not have survived.”

Katanga said it’s working with authorities to determine the cause of the “geotechnical failure.”

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