Trafigura head of mining Emmanuel Henry told Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba the company plans to restart the operation, though no timeframe was given, Reuters reported the prime minister's office as saying.

The operation had been suffering "operational difficulties" due to unstable pricing for the commodity.

Mawson West, which is located in Kapulo in the Haut-Katanga province, has a production capacity of 26,000 tonnes of copper annually. It was reopened in April 2018 after being on an extended period of care and maintenance.