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Events/Nationalisation · 1967

Union Miniere nationalised as Gecamines

Nationalisation, 1967, DR Congo.

What happened

Gecamines says Union Miniere du Haut Katanga was nationalised in 1967 by the state.1,2

Why it matters

It put the Congo's largest mining company under state control.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Katanga declares its secession from Congo

    The copper-rich province broke away as an unrecognised state (Wikidata date).3

  2. Rhodesia's UDI cuts Zambia's copper routes

    Zambia faced a transport emergency and sought a route to the sea through Tanzania.4,5

  3. Copper is 97 per cent of Zambias foreign exchange earnings

    The dependence made a safe export route a political priority.4,5

  4. TAZARA construction begins

    Tracklaying was finished by mid-1975 and the line was commissioned in July 1976.4,5

  5. Panguna mine: inception

    Panguna mine: inception.6

  6. Olympic Dam drill hole RD1

    It led to the Olympic Dam copper-uranium-gold deposit.7,8

  7. Roros Mining Town inscribed

    UNESCO World Heritage listing event.9

  8. Panguna mine halted

    The closure became tied to the Bougainville conflict.10,11

Open the full timeline

Where next

Mines

Located inRuashiA mine from the same area and mineral story: Ruashi.1

Events

Came out ofUnion Miniere du Haut Katanga createdUnion Miniere ran Katanga's mines until the state took it over in 1967.1

Places

Located inLubumbashiSee the place where this happened: Lubumbashi.1

Sources

  1. Historique Gecamines
  2. Lubumbashi (item Q187593), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. Wikidata item Q1148907 (State of Katanga)
  4. 'Win-win' contested: negotiating the privatisation of Africa's Freedom Railway with the 'Chinese of today' Journal of Modern African Studies 59(1) (Cambridge University Press)
  5. Wikidata item Q985822 (Kapiri Mposhi)
  6. Wikidata item Q17060798 (Panguna mine: inception)
  7. Report GA9508 (Olympic Dam, drill hole RD1 text) Geoscience Australia
  8. Olympic Dam mine (item Q1473809), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  9. Roros Mining Town and the Circumference UNESCO World Heritage Centre
  10. History: Panguna Mine Bougainville Copper Limited
  11. Panguna mine (item Q17060798), coordinate location P625 Wikidata

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Malachite on cobaltocalcite, Musonoi by Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 3.0. Pictures: Kopermijn te Kolwezi in de provincie Shaba (Katanka), Mieremet, Rob / Anefo / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Chiquicamata Mine, Chile, NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)).