CoTec Holdings Corp. announces that it has signed a term sheet with U.S. based Copper Intelligence Inc.and third party investment vehicles associated with the Company’s CEO, Julian Treger, and Chairman, Lucio Genovese, to form an early stage exploration joint venture that will be focused on processing historical copper tailings in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Once formed, the Joint Venture will establish a framework for the joint pursuit of copper tailings opportunities in the historical copper districts of the DRC. Opportunities identified will be subject to detailed legal and technical due diligence and binding agreements on an asset-by-asset basis with approval by the independent members of the CoTec Board of Directors in this matter, prior to resources being committed to development.
To the extent applicable, CoTec technologies will be used to further enhance economic potential of these historical tailings sites and redundant copper deposits. The Joint Venture will target funding from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation once sufficient scale is achieved. Copper Intelligence is solidifying its status as the first stand-alone DRC company to be publicly traded in the United States.
Copper tailings in the DRC are a defining feature of the DRC’s long mining history, particularly in the Central African Copperbelt.
Julian Treger, Chief Executive Officer of CoTec, commented: “The DRC has an incredibly rich copper history and the potential for historical copper tailings opportunities could be significant. Copper Intelligence has a wealth of experience in operating in Africa and this partnership will support CoTec as it navigates its execution strategy for potential asset opportunities in the DRC.
The Company continues to progress its strategy to target asset acquisitions with its technology suite, these technologies could provide alternative processing solutions to the historical tailing deposits of the DRC and will be tested through the due diligence process. We strongly believe in the strategic importance of copper and the opportunistic Joint Venture in the Copperbelt is one of the copper opportunities we are pursuing to build out our copper interests and seek to further leverage CoTec’s evolving technology portfolio over the coming year.”
The term sheet was negotiated on an arm’s length basis, is non-binding and the specific structure, terms and conditions of the Joint Venture will be reflected in mutually acceptable definitive agreements targeted for signing by Q3, 2026 or sooner, depending on progress in securing of potential targets.
![Schematic of a polymetallic nodule mining operation. From top to bottom, the three zoom-in panels illustrate the surface operation vessel, the midwater sediment plume, and the nodule collector operating on the seabed. The midwater plume comprises two stages: (i) the dynamic plume, in which the sediment-laden discharge water rapidly descends and dilutes to a neutral buoyancy depth, and (ii) the subsequent ambient plume that is advected by the ocean current and subject to background turbulence and settling.[1] Image: Wikipedia Commons, Kredit: Carlos Muñoz-Royo.](https://www.miningmetalnews.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_frontpage_small/public/media-cover-images/schematic-of-a-polymetallic-nodule-mining-operation-from-top-to-bottom-the-three_2_0.jpg?h=3df05eba&itok=fdvTZ2tH&u=1776673036)
![Schematic of a polymetallic nodule mining operation. From top to bottom, the three zoom-in panels illustrate the surface operation vessel, the midwater sediment plume, and the nodule collector operating on the seabed. The midwater plume comprises two stages: (i) the dynamic plume, in which the sediment-laden discharge water rapidly descends and dilutes to a neutral buoyancy depth, and (ii) the subsequent ambient plume that is advected by the ocean current and subject to background turbulence and settling.[1] Image: Wikipedia Commons, Kredit: Carlos Muñoz-Royo.](https://www.miningmetalnews.com/sites/default/files/styles/related_news_image/public/media-cover-images/schematic-of-a-polymetallic-nodule-mining-operation-from-top-to-bottom-the-three_2_0.jpg?h=3df05eba&itok=My_MmN9i&u=1776673036)
