H.E. Louis Watum Kabamba has been appointed the new DRC Minister of Mines. His appointment comes amidst a cabinet reshuffle that is intended to respond to the major challenges of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Before his new role, Louis Watum was the Minister of Industry and the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

Louis Watum is well-known in both the DRC and African mining sectors. He joined Ivanhoe Mines in December 2014 as General Manager of the company’s operations in the DRC. In March 2015, he was appointed Managing Director of Kamoa Copper SA. He assumed responsibilities for Ivanhoe Mines’ mine development activities at the Kamoa copper discovery and the Kipushi zinc-copper-silver mine, both in the DRC.

Prior to joining Ivanhoe Mines, Louis Watum spent eight years in progressively senior roles in the DRC mining sector. Between 2010 and 2014, he successfully led the development and commissioning of Randgold’s Kibali project, which followed his work on the launch of the Moto Moto Gold Mines project from 2006 to 2009. Louis Watum was previously Operations Manager at the Yatela Gold Mine in Mali from 2001 to 2005. He holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Lubumbashi in the DRC.

David Ashdown, CEO of VUKA Group, organisers of DRC Mining Week comments: “We would like to congratulate H.E. Louis Watum Kabamba on his appointment as Minister of Mines of the DRC. We have a long-standing relationship across many years and have worked collaboratively with Louis Watum across his roles as President of Chamber of Mines, then following his role in government as the Minister of Industry. We wish him all the success in this new role.”